The Zeeman effect in the G band

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

22 pages, 6 figures. To be published in the Astrophysical Journal

Scientific paper

10.1086/382037

We investigate the possibility of measuring magnetic field strength in G-band bright points through the analysis of Zeeman polarization in molecular CH lines. To this end we solve the equations of polarized radiative transfer in the G band through a standard plane-parallel model of the solar atmosphere with an imposed magnetic field, and through a more realistic snapshot from a simulation of solar magneto-convection. This region of the spectrum is crowded with many atomic and molecular lines. Nevertheless, we find several instances of isolated groups of CH lines that are predicted to produce a measurable Stokes V signal in the presence of magnetic fields. In part this is possible because the effective Land\'{e} factors of lines in the stronger main branch of the CH A$^{2}\Delta$--X$^{2}\Pi$ transition tend to zero rather quickly for increasing total angular momentum $J$, resulting in a Stokes $V$ spectrum of the G band that is less crowded than the corresponding Stokes $I$ spectrum. We indicate that, by contrast, the effective Land\'{e} factors of the $R$ and $P$ satellite sub-branches of this transition tend to $\pm 1$ for increasing $J$. However, these lines are in general considerably weaker, and do not contribute significantly to the polarization signal. In one wavelength location near 430.4 nm the overlap of several magnetically sensitive and non-sensitive CH lines is predicted to result in a single-lobed Stokes $V$ profile, raising the possibility of high spatial-resolution narrow-band polarimetric imaging. In the magneto-convection snapshot we find circular polarization signals of the order of 1% prompting us to conclude that measuring magnetic field strength in small-scale elements through the Zeeman effect in CH lines is a realistic prospect.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

The Zeeman effect in the G band does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The Zeeman effect in the G band, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Zeeman effect in the G band will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-384635

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.