Bibcode
                                    
                            DOI
                                    
                            Trujillo Bueno, Javier; Shchukina, Nataliya
    Bibliographical reference
                                    The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 664, Issue 2, pp. L135-L138.
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                        8
            
                        2007
            
  Journal
                                    
                            Citations
                                    47
                            Refereed citations
                                    30
                            Description
                                    One of the greatest challenges in solar and stellar physics in the
coming years will be to observe the second solar spectrum with a spatial
resolution significantly better than 1". This type of scattering
polarization observation would probably allow us to discover hitherto
unknown aspects of the Sun's hidden magnetism. Here we report on some
theoretical predictions for the photospheric line of Sr I at 4607
Å, which we have obtained by solving the three-dimensional (3D)
radiative transfer problem of scattering line polarization in a
realistic hydrodynamical model of the solar photosphere. We have taken
into account not only the anisotropy of the radiation field in the 3D
medium and the Hanle effect of a tangled magnetic field, but also the
symmetry-breaking effects caused by the horizontal atmospheric
inhomogeneities produced by the solar surface convection. Interestingly,
the Q/I and U/I linear polarization signals of the emergent spectral
line radiation have sizable values and fluctuations, even at the very
center of the solar disk where we observe the forward-scattering case.
The ensuing small-scale patterns in Q/I and U/I turn out to be sensitive
to the assumed magnetic field model and are of great diagnostic value.
We argue that it should be possible to observe them with the help of a 1
m telescope equipped with adaptive optics and a suitable polarimeter.