Fully Resolved Quiet-Sun Magnetic flux Tube Observed with the SUNRISE/IMAX Instrument

Until today, the small size of magnetic elements in quiet-Sun areas has required the application of indirect methods, such as the line-ratio technique or multi-component inversions, to infer their physical properties. A consistent match to the observed Stokes profiles could only be obtained by intro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Astrophysical journal. Letters 2010-11, Vol.723 (2), p.L164-L168
Main Authors: Lagg, A, Solanki, S. K, Riethmüller, T. L, Martínez Pillet, V, Schüssler, M, Hirzberger, J, Feller, A, Borrero, J. M, Schmidt, W, del Toro Iniesta, J. C, Bonet, J. A, Barthol, P, Berkefeld, T, Domingo, V, Gandorfer, A, Knölker, M, Title, A. M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ATMOSPHERES
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC FLUX
MAIN SEQUENCE STARS
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
PHOTOSPHERE
RESOLUTION
SOLAR ATMOSPHERE
SPATIAL RESOLUTION
STARS
STELLAR ATMOSPHERES
SUN
TELESCOPES
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Summary:Until today, the small size of magnetic elements in quiet-Sun areas has required the application of indirect methods, such as the line-ratio technique or multi-component inversions, to infer their physical properties. A consistent match to the observed Stokes profiles could only be obtained by introducing a magnetic filling factor that specifies the fraction of the observed pixel filled with magnetic field. Here, we investigate the properties of a small magnetic patch in the quiet Sun observed with the IMaX magnetograph on board the balloon-borne telescope SUNRISE with unprecedented spatial resolution and low instrumental stray light. We apply an inversion technique based on the numerical solution of the radiative transfer equation to retrieve the temperature stratification and the field strength in the magnetic patch. The observations can be well reproduced with a one-component, fully magnetized atmosphere with a field strength exceeding 1 kG and a significantly enhanced temperature in the mid to upper photosphere with respect to its surroundings, consistent with semi-empirical flux tube models for plage regions. We therefore conclude that, within the framework of a simple atmospheric model, the IMaX measurements resolve the observed quiet-Sun flux tube.
ISSN:2041-8205
2041-8213
DOI:10.1088/2041-8205/723/2/L164