Scattering polarization and the Hanle effect in H-alpha as a probe of chromospheric magnetism: Modeling vs. Observations

2011/02/24 by Jiri Stepan, Jiří Štěpán, Javier Trujillo Bueno +9
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies #Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #astro-ph.SR

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1102.4941

7 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the "Solar Polarization Workshop 6", ASP Conf. Ser., 437

arxiv created 2011/02/24 · openalex publication_date 2011/02/24 · arxiv updated 2011/02/25 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

The Hanle effect in strong spectral lines is the physical mechanism that should be increasingly exploited for quantitative explorations of the magnetism of the quiet solar chromospheric plasma. Here we show, by means of multilevel radiative transfer calculations and new spectropolarimetric observations, that the amplitude and shape of the scattering polarization profiles of the H-alpha line is very sensitive to the strength and structure of the chromospheric magnetic field. The interpretation of the observations in terms of one-dimensional radiative transfer modeling suggests that there is an abrupt magnetization in the upper chromosphere of the quiet Sun.

Citations

• Spectropolarimetric investigations of the magnetization of the quiet Sun chromosphere

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