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Title: MAGNETIC DIAGNOSTICS OF THE SOLAR CHROMOSPHERE WITH THE Mg II h–k LINES

Abstract

We investigated the formation of the Mg ii h–k doublet in a weakly magnetized atmosphere (20–100 G) using a newly developed numerical code for polarized radiative transfer in a plane-parallel geometry, which implements a recent formulation of partially coherent scattering by polarized multi-term atoms in arbitrary magnetic-field regimes. Our results confirm the importance of partial redistribution effects in the formation of the Mg ii h and k lines, as pointed out by previous work in the non-magnetic case. We show that the presence of a magnetic field can produce measurable modifications of the broadband linear polarization even for relatively small field strengths (∼10 G), while the circular polarization remains well represented by the classical magnetograph formula. Both these results open an important new window for the weak-field diagnostics of the upper solar atmosphere.

Authors:
;  [1];  [2]
  1. High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000 (United States)
  2. Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, D-37077 Göttingen (Germany)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22654181
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 830; Journal Issue: 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 2041-8205
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; ATOMS; CHROMOSPHERE; COHERENT SCATTERING; MAGNETIC FIELDS; MODIFICATIONS; POLARIZATION; RADIANT HEAT TRANSFER; SUN

Citation Formats

Del Pino Alemán, T., Casini, R., and Manso Sainz, R. MAGNETIC DIAGNOSTICS OF THE SOLAR CHROMOSPHERE WITH THE Mg II h–k LINES. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.3847/2041-8205/830/2/L24.
Del Pino Alemán, T., Casini, R., & Manso Sainz, R. MAGNETIC DIAGNOSTICS OF THE SOLAR CHROMOSPHERE WITH THE Mg II h–k LINES. United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8205/830/2/L24
Del Pino Alemán, T., Casini, R., and Manso Sainz, R. 2016. "MAGNETIC DIAGNOSTICS OF THE SOLAR CHROMOSPHERE WITH THE Mg II h–k LINES". United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8205/830/2/L24.
@article{osti_22654181,
title = {MAGNETIC DIAGNOSTICS OF THE SOLAR CHROMOSPHERE WITH THE Mg II h–k LINES},
author = {Del Pino Alemán, T. and Casini, R. and Manso Sainz, R.},
abstractNote = {We investigated the formation of the Mg ii h–k doublet in a weakly magnetized atmosphere (20–100 G) using a newly developed numerical code for polarized radiative transfer in a plane-parallel geometry, which implements a recent formulation of partially coherent scattering by polarized multi-term atoms in arbitrary magnetic-field regimes. Our results confirm the importance of partial redistribution effects in the formation of the Mg ii h and k lines, as pointed out by previous work in the non-magnetic case. We show that the presence of a magnetic field can produce measurable modifications of the broadband linear polarization even for relatively small field strengths (∼10 G), while the circular polarization remains well represented by the classical magnetograph formula. Both these results open an important new window for the weak-field diagnostics of the upper solar atmosphere.},
doi = {10.3847/2041-8205/830/2/L24},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22654181}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal Letters},
issn = {2041-8205},
number = 2,
volume = 830,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Oct 20 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Thu Oct 20 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}