Abstract
Probing the magnetism of the solar atmosphere requires measuring the polarisation state of the light in different wavelength bands. Since the physical conditions of the solar plasma change dramatically from the optically thick photosphere which is the main contributor to the emitted radiation in visible wavelengths to the optically thin outer solar atmosphere, several polarisation mechanisms contribute to the continuum and spectral line polarisation throughout the solar atmosphere. This chapter presents an overview of the main sources of light polarisation in the Sun along with some recent investigations of the polarisation produced in the solar atmosphere.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
He employed a rudimentary but efficient polarisation analyser to separate the different polarisation states, pretty much the same strategy we follow nowadays.
- 2.
Already in 1802, William Wollaston detected solar Fraunhofer lines.
- 3.
Microturbulence accounts for plasma motions taking place at spatial scales smaller than the photon mean free path.
- 4.
The anisotropy is caused by the solar limb-darkening and local inhomogeneities.
- 5.
Notice that for strong fields the He I infrared triplet in the incomplete Paschen-Back regime (Socas-Navarro et al. 2004).
- 6.
Mainly due to electron–ion and H− free–free absorption.
- 7.
A full review of the quiet Sun magnetic fields can be found in Bellot Rubio and Orozco Suárez (2019).
- 8.
Roughly speaking, a longitudinal magnetogram is a map of the line-of-sight component of the magnetic field taken at the Stokes V wing of a magnetic sensitivity spectral line.
- 9.
The reader is referred to del Toro Iniesta and Ruiz Cobo (2016) for detailed review on the inversion of the radiative transfer equation in solar physics.
- 10.
Spectro-Polarimeter for INfrared and Optical Regions, at the Dunn Solar Telescope in Sacramento Peak Observatory.
- 11.
Filaments are prominences as seen against the brighter solar disc.
- 12.
It is generally accepted that prominence plasma is supported against gravity by collisions and magnetic tension force. For comprehensive reviews go to, e.g., Parenti (2014).
References
Arnaud J, Newkirk G Jr (1987) Astron Astrophys 178:263
Arregui I, Oliver R, Ballester JL (2012) Living Rev Sol Phys 9:2
Asensio Ramos A, Trujillo Bueno J, Landi Degl’Innocenti E (2008) Astrophys J 683:542
Babcock HW (1953) Astrophys J 118:387
Barthol P, Gandorfer A, Solanki SK et al (2011) Sol Phys Rev 268:1
Beckers JM (1968) Sol Phys Rev 3:367
Bellot Rubio LR, Orozco Suárez D (2012) Astrophys J 757:19
Bellot Rubio LR, Orozco Suárez D (2019) Living Rev Sol Phys 16:1
Belluzzi L, Trujillo Bueno J (2012) Astrophys J Lett 750:L11
Belluzzi L, Trujillo Bueno J (2013) Astrophys J Lett 774:L28
Belluzzi L, Trujillo Bueno J, Štěpán J (2012) Astrophys J Lett 755:L2
Belluzzi L, Trujillo Bueno J, Landi Degl’Innocenti E (2015) Astrophys J 814:116
Bogod VM (2011) Astrophys Bull 66:190
Bogod VM, Gelfreikh GB (1980) Sol Phys Rev 67:29
Borrero JM, Ichimoto K (2011) Living Rev Sol Phys 8:4
Brosius JW, White SM (2006) Astrophys J Lett 641:L69
Brosius JW, Landi E, Cook JW et al (2002) Astrophys J 574:453
Casini R, Judge PG (1999) Astrophys J 522:524
Casini R, López Ariste A, Tomczyk S, Lites BW (2003) Astrophys J Lett 598:L67
Casini R, Bevilacqua R, López Ariste A (2005) Astrophys J 622:1265
Casini R, López Ariste A, Paletou F, Léger L (2009) Astrophys J 703:114
Centeno R, Socas-Navarro H, Lites B et al (2007) Astrophys J Lett, 666, L137
Centeno R, Trujillo Bueno J, Uitenbroek H, Collados M (2008) Astrophys J 677:742-750
Centeno R, Trujillo Bueno J, Asensio Ramos A (2010) Astrophys J 708:1579
Collados M, Lagg A, Díaz Garcí A, JJ et al (2007) In: Heinzel P et al (eds) The physics of chromospheric plasmas, vol 368, pp 611–616. ASP, San Francisco, CA
Danilovic S, Beeck B, Pietarila A et al (2010) Astrophys J Lett 723:L149
de Pontieu B, McIntosh S, Hansteen VH et al (2007) Publ Astron Soc Jpn 59:655
del Toro Iniesta JC (1996) Vistas Astron 40:241
del Toro Iniesta JC (2003) Introduction to Spectropolarimetry, pp 244. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 0521818273
del Toro Iniesta JC, Ruiz Cobo B (2016) Living Rev Sol Phys 13:4
Emslie AG, Brown JC (1980) Astrophys J 237:1015
Gandorfer A (2000) The second solar spectrum: a high spectral resolution polarimetric survey of scattering polarization at the solar limb in graphical representation. Volume I: 4625 Å to 6995 Å. VdF, Zurich
Gandorfer A (2002) The second solar spectrum: a high spectral resolution polarimetric survey of scattering polarization at the solar limb in graphical representation. Volume II: 3910 Å to 4630 Å. VdF, Zurich
Gary DE, Hurford GJ (1994) Astrophys J 420:903
Gošić M, Bellot Rubio LR, Orozco Suárez D, Katsukawa Y, del Toro Iniesta JC (2014) Astrophys J 797:49
Gošić M, Bellot Rubio LR, del Toro Iniesta JC, Orozco Suárez D, Katsukawa Y (2016) Astrophys J 820:35
Grebinskij A, Bogod V, Gelfreikh G et al (2000) Astron Astrophys Suppl 144:169
Habbal SR, Woo R, Arnaud J (2001) Astrophys J 558:852
Hale GE (1908) Astrophys J 28:315
Hanle W (1924) Z Phys 30:93
Happer W (1972) Rev Mod Phys 44:169
Harvey JW (1969) PhD thesis, Department of Astro-Geophysics, University of Colorado
Hillier A (2018) Rev Mod Plasma Phys 2:1
House LL (1977) Astrophys J 214:632
House LL, Smartt RN (1982) Sol Phys Rev 80:53
Hyder CL (1965) Astrophys J 141:1374
Ichimoto K, Lites B, Elmore D et al (2008) Sol Phys Rev 249:233
Ishikawa R, Tsuneta S (2009) Astron Astrophys 495:607
Jin C, Wang J, Zhou G (2009) Astrophys J 697:693
Joshi J, Lagg A, Hirzberger J, Solanki SK (2017) Astron Astrophys 604:A98
Judge PG (1998) Astrophys J 500:1009
Judge PG, Kleint L, Donea A, Sainz Dalda A, Fletcher L (2014) Astrophys J 796:85
Judge PG, Kleint L, Sainz Dalda A (2015) Astrophys J 814:100
Kano R, Trujillo Bueno J, Winebarger A et al (2017) Astrophys J Lett 839:L10
Kleint L (2017) Astrophys J 834:26
Kobayashi K, Kano R, Trujillo-Bueno, J et al (2012) Fifth hinode science meeting, vol 456, p 233
Kosugi T, Matsuzaki K, Sakao T et al (2007) Sol Phys Rev 243:3
Kuckein C, Collados M, Manso Sainz R (2015) Astrophys J Lett 799:L25
Lagg A, Solanki SK, Riethmüller TL et al (2010) Astrophys J Lett 723:L164
Landi Degl’Innocenti E (1992) Solar observations: techniques and interpretation, vol 71. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Landi degl’Innocenti E (1998) Nature 392:256
Landi Degl’Innocenti E, Landolfi M (2004) Astrophysics and space science library, vol 307. Kluwer, Dordrecht
Li H, You J, Yu X, Du Q (2007) Sol Phys Rev 241:301
Li H, Landi Degl’Innocenti E, Qu Z (2017) Astrophys J 838:69
Libbrecht T, de la Cruz Rodríguez J, Danilovic S, Leenaarts J, Pazira H (2019) Astron Astrophys 621:A35
Lin H, Casini R (2000) Astrophys J 542:528
Lin H, Penn MJ, Tomczyk S (2000) Astrophys J Lett 541:L83
Lin H, Kuhn JR, Coulter R (2004) Astrophys J Lett 613:L177
Lites BW, Rutten RJ, Kalkofen W (1993) Astrophys J 414:345
Lites BW, Leka KD, Skumanich A, Martinez Pillet V, Shimizu T (1996) Astrophys J 460:1019
Lites BW, Kubo M, Socas-Navarro H et al (2008) Astrophys J 672:1237
Livingston W, Harvey J (1971) Sol Magn Fields 43:51
Livingston WC, Harvey J (1975) Bull Am Astron Soc 7:346
López Ariste A, Casini R (2005) Astron Astrophys 436:325
Loukitcheva M, White SM, Solanki SK, Fleishman GD, Carlsson M (2017) Astron Astrophys 601:A43
Luna M, Karpen J (2012) Astrophys J Lett 750:L1
Martin SF (1984) Small-scale dynamical processes in quiet stellar atmospheres. In: Keil SL (ed) Proceedings of the conference held in Sunspot, NM, 25–29 July, 1983. National Solar Observatory, p 30
Martínez González MJ, Bellot Rubio LR (2009) Astrophys J 700:1391
Martínez González MJ, Asensio Ramos A, Manso Sainz R et al (2011) Astrophys J Lett 730:L37
Martínez González MJ, Bellot Rubio LR, Solanki SK et al (2012) Astrophys J Lett 758:L40
Martínez González MJ, Manso Sainz R, Asensio Ramos A et al (2015) Astrophys J 802:3
Martínez González MJ, Asensio Ramos A, Arregui I et al (2016) Astrophys J 825:119
Martínez Pillet V, Del Toro Iniesta JC, Álvarez-Herrero A et al (2011) Sol Phys Rev 268:57
Merenda L, Trujillo Bueno J, Landi Degl’Innocenti E, Collados M (2006) Astrophys J 642:554
Mickey DL (1973) Astrophys J Lett 181:L19
Müller D, Marsden RG, St. Cyr OC, Gilbert HR (2013) Sol Phys Rev 285:25
Nakajima H, Nishio M, Enome S et al (1994) IEEE Proc 82:705
Narukage N, Auchère F, Ishikawa R, et al (2015) Appl Opt 54:2080
Narukage N, Kubo M, Ishikawa R, et al (2017) Sol Phys Rev 292:40
Okamoto TJ, Sakurai T (2018) Astrophys J Lett 852:L16
Orozco Suárez D, Bellot Rubio LR (2012) Astrophys J 751:2
Orozco Suarez D, Lagg A, Solanki SK (2005) Chromosph Coronal Magn Fields 59(1), 596
Orozco Suárez D, Bellot Rubio LR, del Toro Iniesta JC et al (2007a) Astrophys J Lett 670:L61
Orozco Suárez D, Bellot Rubio LR, Del Toro Iniesta JC et al (2007b) Publ Astron Soc Jpn 59:S837
Orozco Suárez D, Asensio Ramos A, Trujillo Bueno J (2012) Astrophys J Lett 761:L25
Orozco Suárez D, Asensio Ramos A, Trujillo Bueno J (2014a) Nat Promin Role Sp Weather 300:112
Orozco Suárez D, Díaz AJ, Asensio Ramos A, Trujillo Bueno J (2014b) Astrophys J Lett 785:L10
Orozco Suárez D, Asensio Ramos A, Trujillo Bueno J (2014c) Astro Astrophys 566:A46
Orozco Suárez D, Asensio Ramos A, Trujillo Bueno J (2015) Astrophys J Lett 803:L18
Parenti S (2014) Living Rev Sol Phys 11:1
Penn MJ, Kuhn JR (1995) Astrophys J Lett 441:L51
Pereira TMD, De Pontieu B, Carlsson M (2012) Astrophys J 759:18
Pesnell WD, Thompson BJ, Chamberlin PC (2012) Sol Phys Rev 275:3
Quémerais E, Lamy P (2002) Astron Astrophys 393:295
Ramelli R, Bianda M, Merenda L, Trujillo Bueno T (2006) Sol Polarisation 4:358, 448
Requerey IS, Del Toro Iniesta JC, Bellot Rubio LR et al (2015) Astrophys J 810:79
Rust DM (1967) Astrophys J 150:313
Sasso C, Lagg A, Solanki SK (2011) Astron Astrophys 526:A42
Schad TA, Penn MJ, Lin H, Tritschler A (2015) Sol Phys Rev 290:1607
Scharmer GB (2006) Astron Astrophys 447:1111
Schou J, Scherrer PH, Bush RI et al (2012) Sol Phys Rev 275:229
Smithson RC (1975) Bull Am Astron Soc 7:346
Socas-Navarro H (2005) Astrophys J Lett 631:L167
Socas-Navarro H, Elmore D (2005) Astrophys J Lett 619:L195
Socas-Navarro H, Trujillo Bueno J, Landi Degl’Innocenti E (2004) Astrophys J 612:1175
Solanki SK, del Toro Iniesta JC, Woch J et al (2015) Polarimetry 305:108
Stenflo JO (1982) Sol Phys Rev 80:209
Stenflo JO (2003). In: Dwivedi BN (ed) Dynamic sun. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 128–147. ISBN 0-521-81057-4
Stenflo JO (2017) Space Sci Rev 210:5
Stenflo JO, Keller CU (1997) Astron Astrophys 321:927
Stenflo JO, Twerenbold D, Harvey JW (1983a) Astron Astrophys Suppl 52:161
Stenflo JO, Twerenbold D, Harvey JW, Brault JW (1983b) Astron Astrophys Suppl 54:505
Stenflo JO, Keller CU, Gandorfer A (2000) Astron Astrophys 355:789
Suarez-Garcia E, Hajdas W, Wigger C et al (2006) Sol Phys Rev 239:149
Tandberg-Hanssen E, Anzer U (1970) Sol Phys Rev 15:158
Thernisien AFR, Howard RA, Vourlidas A (2006) Astrophys J 652:763
Tomczyk S, McIntosh SW, Keil SL et al (2007) Science 317:1192
Tomczyk S, Card GL, Darnell T et al (2008) Sol Phys Rev 247:411
Trujillo Bueno J (2001) Adv Sol Polarimetry Theor Observ Instrum 236:161
Trujillo Bueno J (2010) Astrophys Space Sci Proc 19:118
Trujillo Bueno J (2014) Solar Polarization 7. In: Nagendra KN, Stenflo JO, Qu ZQ, Sampoorna M (eds) Proceedings of a workshop held at Expo Garden Hotel, Kunming, China, 9–13 September, 2013. ASP conference series, vol 489. Astronomical Society of the Pacific, San Francisco, p 137
Trujillo Bueno J, Landi Degl’Innocenti E (1997) Astrophys J Lett 482:L183
Trujillo Bueno J, Casini R, Landolfi M, Landi Degl’Innocenti E (2002a) Astrophys J Lett 566:L53
Trujillo Bueno J, Landi Degl’Innocenti E, Collados M, Merenda L, Manso Sainz R (2002b) Nature 415:403
Trujillo Bueno J, Shchukina N, Asensio Ramos A (2004) Nature 430:326
Trujillo Bueno J, Merenda L, Centeno R, Collados M, Landi Degl’Innocenti E (2005) Astrophys J Lett 619:L191
Trujillo Bueno J, Landi Degl’Innocenti E, Belluzzi L (2017) Space Sci Rev 210:183
Tsuneta S, Ichimoto K, Katsukawa Y et al (2008) Sol Phys Rev 249:167
van de Hulst HC (1950) Bull Astron Inst Neth 11:135
van Noort M, Lagg A, Tiwari SK, Solanki SK (2013) Astron Astrophys 557:A24
Wang H, Liu C (2010) Astrophys J Lett 716:L195
Wang J, Wang H, Tang F, Lee JW, Zirin H (1995) Sol Phys Rev 160:277
Wedemeyer S, Bastian T, Brajša R et al (2016) Space Sci Rev 200:1
White SM (2001) Magn Fields Hertzsprung-Russell Diagr 248:67
White SM (2005) Chromosph Coronal Magn Fields 10(1):596
White SM, Kundu MR (1997) Sol Phys Rev 174:31
Zirin H, Severny A (1961) Observatory 81:155
Zweibel EG, Yamada M (2009) Annu Rev Astron Astrophys 47:291
Acknowledgements
This work has been supported by Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the project RTI2018-096886-B-C51. The author acknowledges support from a Ramón y Cajal fellowship RYC-2016-20150 by the spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad. He also thanks J. C. del Toro Iniesta, L. R. Bellot Rubio, and J. Trujillo Bueno for comments that greatly improved the manuscript. IAA-CSIC acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Research Agency (AEI/MCIU) through the “Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa” award for the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (SEV-2017-0709).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Suárez, D.O. (2019). Polarimetric Observations of the Sun. In: Mignani, R., Shearer, A., Słowikowska, A., Zane, S. (eds) Astronomical Polarisation from the Infrared to Gamma Rays. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 460. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19715-5_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19715-5_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-19714-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-19715-5
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)