Horizontal or vertical magnetic fields on the quiet Sun: Angular distributions and their height variations

Different analyses of identical Hinode SOT/SP data of quiet-Sun magnetic fields have in the past led to contradictory answers to the question of whether the angular distribution of field vectors is preferentially horizontal or vertical. These answers have been obtained by combining the measured circ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin) 2013-07, Vol.555, p.1-12
Main Author: Stenflo, J O
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Angular distribution
Circularity
Disks
Energy density
Field strength
Horizontal
Linear polarization
Magnetic fields
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Summary:Different analyses of identical Hinode SOT/SP data of quiet-Sun magnetic fields have in the past led to contradictory answers to the question of whether the angular distribution of field vectors is preferentially horizontal or vertical. These answers have been obtained by combining the measured circular and linear polarizations in different ways to derive the field inclinations. A problem with these combinations is that the circular and linear polarizations scale with field strength in profoundly different ways. Here, we avoid these problems by using an entirely different approach that is based exclusively on the fundamental symmetry properties of the transverse Zeeman effect for observations away from the disk center without any dependence on the circular polarization. Thus, all facular points that we have observed have a strong preference for the vertical direction for all disk positions, including those all the way to the extreme limb. In terms of spatial averages weighted by the intrinsic magnetic energy density, these results are independent of telescope resolution.
ISSN:0004-6361
1432-0746
DOI:10.1051/0004-6361/201321608