Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Oct 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010apj...722.1411m&link_type=abstract
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 722, Issue 2, pp. 1411-1415 (2010).
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Interplanetary Medium, Solar Wind, Sun: Heliosphere, Zodiacal Dust
Scientific paper
Sensitive SOLARC imaging spectropolarimetric observations from Haleakala reveal a diffuse coronal surface brightness in the He I 1083 nm line. A series of observations suggests that this signal originates from an "inner source" of neutral helium atoms in the solar corona. Here, we explore the possibility that this cold coronal component originates from helium ions that are neutralized by the near-Sun dust and subsequently excited to the metastable 1s2s 3 S state, which then scatters photons from the solar disk. This picture suggests a deficit of coronal dust inside about 2-4 R sun in order to account for both the flat radial brightness distribution and the small velocity line width of the observations. We find a strong correlation between the polarized He brightness and coronal white light brightness that supports the argument that electronic collisional excitation of the metastable helium triplet level is responsible for our polarization signal.
Kuhn Jeff R.
Moise Eliza
Raymond Jack
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