Effects of Faraday rotation observed in filter magnetograph data

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the effects of Faraday rotation on the azimuth of a transverse magnetic field as determined from the linear polarization in the inverse Zeeman effect. Observations of a simple sunspot were obtained with the Marshall Space Flight Center's vector magnetograph over the wavelength interval of 170 mÅ redward of line center of the Fe i 5250.22 Å spectral line to 170 mÅ to the blue, in steps of 10 mÅ. These data were analyzed to produce the variation of the azimuth as a function of wavelength at each pixel over the field of view of the sunspot. At selected locations in the sunspot, curves of the observed variation of azimuth with wavelength were compared with model calculations for the azimuth at each wavelength as derived from the inverse Zeeman effect modified by Faraday rotation. From these comparisons we derived the maximum amount of rotation as functions of both the magnitude and inclination of the sunspot's field. These results show that Faraday rotation of the azimuth will be a significant problem in observations taken near the center of a spectral line for fields as low as 1200 G and inclinations of the field in the range 20–80 deg. Conversely, they show that measurements taken in the wing of a spectral line are relatively free of the effects of Faraday rotation.