No Arabic abstract
Multiline techniques assuming similar line profiles have become a standard tool in stellar astronomy for increasing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of spectropolarimetric measurements. However, due to the widely-used weak field approximation their benefits could not so far be used for solar observations, where a large variety of Stokes profiles emerge from local magnetic fields and measuring weak fields in the quiet Sun remains a challenge. The method presented here permits us to analyze many lines with arbitrary Zeeman splitting and to simultaneously deploy Stokes IQUV spectra to determine a common line profile with the SNR increased by orders of magnitude. The latter provides a valuable constraint for determining separately field strengths for each contributing absorber. This method represents an extension of our recently developed technique of Nonlinear Deconvolution with Deblending (NDD, Sennhauser et al. 2009), which accounts for the nonlinearity in blended profiles. Equipped with all those abilities, ZCD is the perfect tool to further increase the informative value of high-precision polarimetric observations.
The Sun is the only star where we can resolve the intricate magnetism that all convective stars harbor. Yet, more than 99% of its visible surface along the solar cycle (the so-called quiet Sun) is filled with a tangled, unresolved magnetism. These hidden fields are thought to store enough magnetic energy to play a role in the heating of the Suns outer atmosphere, but its field strength is still not constrained. Previous investigations based on the Hanle effect in atomic lines claim a strong magnetization of about 100 G, while the same effect in molecules show a factor of 10 weaker fields. The discrepancy disappears if the magnetic field strength of the hidden is not homogeneous in the solar surface. In this letter, we prove using magnetohydrodynamical simulations that it is possible to infer the average field strength of the hidden quiet Sun magnetic fields using multi-line
This work reviews our understanding of the magnetic fields observed in the quiet Sun. The subject has undergone a major change during the last decade (quiet revolution), and it will remain changing since the techniques of diagnostic employed so far are known to be severely biased. Keeping these caveats in mind, our work covers the main observational properties of the quiet Sun magnetic fields: magnetic field strengths, unsigned magnetic flux densities, magnetic field inclinations, as well as the temporal evolution on short time-scales (loop emergence), and long time-scales (solar cycle). We also summarize the main theoretical ideas put forward to explain the origin of the quiet Sun magnetism. A final prospective section points out various areas of solar physics where the quiet Sun magnetism may have an important physical role to play (chromospheric and coronal structure, solar wind acceleration, and solar elemental abundances).
We investigate the fine structure of magnetic fields in the atmosphere of the quiet Sun. We use photospheric magnetic field measurements from {sc Sunrise}/IMaX with unprecedented spatial resolution to extrapolate the photospheric magnetic field into higher layers of the solar atmosphere with the help of potential and force-free extrapolation techniques. We find that most magnetic loops which reach into the chromosphere or higher have one foot point in relatively strong magnetic field regions in the photosphere. $91%$ of the magnetic energy in the mid chromosphere (at a height of 1 Mm) is in field lines, whose stronger foot point has a strength of more than 300 G, i.e. above the equipartition field strength with convection. The loops reaching into the chromosphere and corona are also found to be asymmetric in the sense that the weaker foot point has a strength $B < 300$ G and is located in the internetwork. Such loops are expected to be strongly dynamic and have short lifetimes, as dictated by the properties of the internetwork fields.
We present a visual determination of the number of bright points (BPs) existing in the quiet Sun, which are structures though to trace intense kG magnetic concentrations. The measurement is based on a 0.1 arcsec angular resolution G-band movie obtained with the Swedish Solar Telescope at the solar disk center. We find 0.97 BPs/Mm^2, which is a factor three larger than any previous estimate. It corresponds to 1.2 BPs per solar granule. Depending on the details of the segmentation, the BPs cover between 0.9% and 2.2% of the solar surface. Assuming their field strength to be 1.5 kG, the detected BPs contribute to the solar magnetic flux with an unsigned flux density between 13 G and 33 G. If network and inter-network regions are counted separately, they contain 2.2 BPs/Mm^2 and 0.85 BPs/Mm^2, respectively.
The dynamic properties of the quiet Sun photosphere can be investigated by analyzing the pair dispersion of small-scale magnetic fields (i.e., magnetic elements). By using $25$ hr-long Hinode magnetograms at high spatial resolution ($0.3$), we tracked $68,490$ magnetic element pairs within a supergranular cell near the disk center. The computed pair separation spectrum, calculated on the whole set of particle pairs independently of their initial separation, points out what is known as a super-diffusive regime with spectral index $gamma=1.55pm0.05$, in agreement with the most recent literature, but extended to unprecedented spatial and temporal scales (from granular to supergranular). Furthermore, for the first time, we investigated here the spectrum of the mean square displacement of pairs of magnetic elements, depending on their initial separation $r_0$. We found that there is a typical initial distance above (below) which the pair separation is faster (slower) than the average. A possible physical interpretation of such a typical spatial scale is also provided.