Bibcode
Khomenko, E. V.; Collados, M.; Solanki, S. K.; Lagg, A.; Trujillo Bueno, J.
Referencia bibliográfica
Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.408, p.1115-1135 (2003)
Fecha de publicación:
9
2003
Revista
Número de citas
179
Número de citas referidas
136
Descripción
This paper presents the results of an investigation of the quiet Sun's
magnetic field based on high-resolution infrared spectropolarimetric
observations obtained with the Tenerife Infrared Polarimeter (TIP) at
the German VTT of the Observatorio del Teide. We observed two very quiet
regions at disc centre. The seeing was exceptionally good during both
observing runs, being excellent during one of them. In both cases the
network was intentionally avoided to the extent possible, to focus the
analysis on the characteristics of the weak polarization signals of the
inter-network regions. We find that the Stokes V profile of Fe I 15648
Å line in almost 50% of the pixels and Stokes Q and/or U in 20% of
the pixels have a signal above 10-3 (in units of continuum
intensity Ic), which is significantly above the noise level
of 2-3 x 10-4. This implies that we detect fluxes as low as 2
x 1015 Mx/px. We find evidence that we have detected most of
the net flux that is in principle detectable at 1''
resolution with the Zeeman effect. The observed linear polarization
resulting from the transverse Zeeman effect indicates that the magnetic
fields have a broad range of inclinations, although most of the pixels
show polarization signatures which imply an inclination of about
20o. Nearly 30% of the selected V-profiles have irregular
shapes with 3 or more lobes, suggesting mixed polarities with different
LOS velocity within the resolution element. The profiles are classified
using a single value decomposition approach. The spatial distribution of
the magnetic signal shows that profiles of different classes (having
different velocities, splitting, asymmetries) are clustered together and
form patches, close to the spatial resolution in size. Most of the field
is found to be located in intergranular lanes. The statistical
properties of the mainly inter-network field sampled by these
observations are presented, showing that most of the observed fields are
weak with relatively few kG features. The field strength distribution
peaks at 350 G and has a FWHM of 300 G. Other parameters, such as
profile asymmetries, filling factors and line-of-sight velocities are
also determined and discussed.
Based on observations with the German Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT)
operated by the Kiepenheuer-Institut für Sonnenphysik at the
Spanish Observatorio del Teide of the Instituto de Astrofísica de
Canarias (IAC).