Bibcode
DOI
Tsuneta, S.; Ichimoto, K.; Katsukawa, Y.; Lites, B. W.; Matsuzaki, K.; Nagata, S.; Orozco Suárez, D.; Shimizu, T.; Shimojo, M.; Shine, R. A.; Suematsu, Y.; Suzuki, T. K.; Tarbell, T. D.; Title, A. M.
Referencia bibliográfica
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 688, Issue 2, pp. 1374-1381.
Fecha de publicación:
12
2008
Revista
Número de citas
180
Número de citas referidas
157
Descripción
We present observations of the magnetic landscape of the polar region of
the Sun that are unprecedented in terms of spatial resolution, field of
view, and polarimetric precision. They were carried out with the Solar
Optical Telescope aboard Hinode. Using a Milne-Eddington inversion, we
find many vertically oriented magnetic flux tubes with field strengths
as strong as 1 kG scattered in latitude between 70° and 90°.
They all have the same polarity, consistent with the global polarity of
the polar region. The field vectors are observed to diverge from the
centers of the flux elements, consistent with a view of magnetic fields
that are expanding and fanning out with height. The polar region is also
found to have ubiquitous horizontal fields. The polar regions are the
source of the fast solar wind, which is channeled along unipolar coronal
magnetic fields whose photospheric source is evidently rooted in the
strong-field, vertical patches of flux. We conjecture that vertical flux
tubes with large expansion around the photospheric-coronal boundary
serve as efficient chimneys for Alfvén waves that accelerate the
solar wind.