Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
May 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001assl..259..183d&link_type=abstract
The Dynamic Sun, Proceedings of the Summerschool and Workshop held at the Solar Observatory Kanzelhöhe, Kärnten, Austria, August
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
2
Scientific paper
The magnetic nature of most solar (spatially resolved or unresolved) structures is amply recognized. Magnetic fields of the Sun play a paramount rôle in the overall thermodynamic and dynamic state of our star. The main observable manifestation of solar magnetic fields is the polarization of light either through the Zeeman effect on spectral lines or through the Hanle effect (depolarization by very weak magnetic fields of light previously polarized by scattering). Hence, one can easily understand the increasing importance that polarimetry is experimenting continuously in solar physics. Under the title of this contribution a six-hour course was given during the summer school. Clearly, the limited extension allocated for the notes in these proceedings avoids an extensive account of the several topics discussed: 1) a description of light as an electromagnetic wave and the polarization properties of monochromatic, time-harmonic, plane waves; 2) the polarization properties of polychromatic light and, in particular, of quasi-monochromatic light; 3) the transformations of (partially) polarized light by linear optical systems and a description of the ways we measure the Stokes parameters by spatially and/or temporally modulating the polarimetric signal; 4) a discussion on specific problems relevant to solar polarimetry like seeing-induced and instrumental polarization, or modulation and demodulation, along with a brief description of current solar polarimeters; 5) the vector radiative transfer equation for polarized light and its links to the scalar one for unpolarized light, together with a summary of the Zeeman effect and its consequences on line formation in a magnetized stellar atmosphere; 7) an introduction of the paramount astrophysical problem, i.e., that of finding diagnostics that enable the solar physicist to interpret the observables in terms of the solar atmospheric quantities, including a discussion on contribution and response functions; and 8) a brief outline of inversion techniques as a recommended way to infer values of the vector magnetic field and other thermodynamic and dynamic quantities. Since most of the material presented in the lectures can be found in the literature, I decided to focus these pages to those topics that, in my opinion, need a particular stress and/or do not have received much attention in previous reviews or textbooks. These notes have been written with mostly didactical purposes so that, skipping the customary usage, just a few references will be cited within the text. Instead, a classified (and necessarily incomplete) bibliography is recommended at the end.
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