Tetsu Anan

Spectropolarimetric capabilities of Ca ii 8542 Å line

The next generation of space-and ground-based solar missions aim to study the magnetic properties of the solar chromosphere using the infrared Ca II lines and the He I 10830 angstrom line. The former seem to be the best candidates to study the stratification of magnetic fields in the solar chromosphere and their relation to the other thermodynamical properties underlying the chromospheric plasma. The purpose of this work is to provide a detailed analysis of the diagnostic capabilities of the Ca II 8542 angstrom line, anticipating forthcoming observational facilities. We study the sensitivity of the Ca II 8542 angstrom line to perturbations applied to the physical parameters of reference semi-empirical 1D model atmospheres using response functions and we make use of 3D magnetohydrodynamics simulations to examine the expected polarization signals for moderate magnetic field strengths. Our results indicate that the Ca II 8542 angstrom line is mostly sensitive to the layers enclosed in the range log tau = [0, -5.5], under the physical conditions that are present in our model atmospheres. In addition, the simulated magnetic flux tube generates strong longitudinal signals in its centre and moderate transversal signals, due to the vertical expansion of magnetic field lines, in its edge. Thus, observing the Ca II 8542 angstrom line we will be able to infer the 3D geometry of moderate magnetic field regions.

Spicule Dynamics over a Plage Region

We studied spicular jets over a plage area and derived their dynamic characteristics using Hinode Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) high-resolution images. A target plage region was near to the west limb of the solar disk. This location permitted us to study the dynamics of spicular jets without any overlapping effect of spicular structures along the line of sight. In this work, to increase the ease with which we could identify spicules on the disk, we applied the image processing method ‘MadMax’ developed by Koutchmy et al. (1989). It enhances fine, slender structures (like jets), over a diffuse background. We identified 169 spicules over the target plage. This sample permited us to derive statistically reliable results regarding spicular dynamics. The properties of plage spicules can be summarized as follows: (1) In a plage area, we clearly identified spicular jet features. (2) They were shorter in length than the quiet region limb spicules, and followed a ballistic motion under constant deceleration. (3) The majority (80%) of the plage spicules showed a cycle of rise and retreat, while 10% of them faded out without a complete retreat phase. (4) The deceleration of the spicule was proportional to the velocity of ejection (i.e., the initial velocity).

Chromospheric polarimetry through multiline observations of the 850-nm spectral region

Future solar missions and ground-based telescopes aim to understand the magnetism of the solar chromosphere. We performed a supporting study in Quintero Noda et al. focused on the infrared Ca (II) ...

Diagnosis of magnetic and electric fields of chromospheric jets through spectropolarimetric observations of H I Paschen lines

Magnetic fields govern the plasma dynamics in the outer layers of the solar atmosphere, and electric fields acting on neutral atoms that move across the magnetic field enable us to study the dynamical coupling between neutrals and ions in the plasma. In order to measure the magnetic and electric fields of chromospheric jets, the full Stokes spectra of the Paschen series of neutral hydrogen in a surge and in some active region jets that took place at the solar limb were observed on 2012 May 5, using the spectropolarimeter of the Domeless Solar Telescope at Hida observatory, Japan. First, we inverted the Stokes spectra taking into account only the effect of magnetic fields on the energy structure and polarization of the hydrogen levels. Having found no definitive evidence of the effects of electric fields in the observed Stokes profiles, we then estimated an upper bound for these fields by calculating the polarization degree under the magnetic field configuration derived in the first step, with the additional presence of a perpendicular (Lorentz type) electric field of varying strength. The inferred direction of the magnetic field on the plane of the sky approximately aligns to the active region jets and the surge, with magnetic field strengths in the range 10 G < B < 640 G for the surge. Using magnetic field strengths of 70, 200, and 600 G, we obtained upper limits for possible electric fields of 0.04, 0.3, and 0.8 V cm–1, respectively. This upper bound is conservative, since in our modeling we neglected the possible contribution of collisional depolarization. Because the velocity of neutral atoms of hydrogen moving across the magnetic field derived from these upper limits of the Lorentz electric field is far below the bulk velocity of the plasma perpendicular to the magnetic field as measured by the Doppler shift, we conclude that the neutral atoms must be highly frozen to the magnetic field in the surge.

Solar polarimetry through the K i lines at 770 nm

We characterize the K I D1 & D2 lines in order to determine whether they could complement the 850 nm window, containing the Ca II infrared triplet lines and several Zeeman sensitive photospheric lines, that was studied previously. We investigate the effect of partial redistribution on the intensity profiles, their sensitivity to changes in different atmospheric parameters, and the spatial distribution of Zeeman polarization signals employing a realistic magnetohydrodynamic simulation. The results show that these lines form in the upper photosphere at around 500 km and that they are sensitive to the line of sight velocity and magnetic field strength at heights where neither the photospheric lines nor the Ca II infrared lines are. However, at the same time, we found that their sensitivity to the temperature essentially comes from the photosphere. Then, we conclude that the K I lines provide a complement to the lines in the 850 nm window for the determination of atmospheric parameters in the upper photosphere, especially for the line of sight velocity and the magnetic field.

Chromospheric polarimetry through multiline observations of the 850-nm spectral region – II. A magnetic flux tube scenario

In this publication, we continue the work started in Quintero Noda et al., examining this time a numerical simulation of a magnetic flux tube concentration. Our goal is to study if the physical phe ...

Differences between Doppler velocities of ions and neutral atoms in a solar prominence

In astrophysical systems with partially ionized plasma the motion of ions is governed by the magnetic field while the neutral particles can only feel the magnetic fields Lorentz force indirectly through collisions with ions. The drift in the velocity between ionized and neutral species plays a key role in modifying important physical processes like magnetic reconnection, damping of magnetohydrodynamic waves, transport of angular momentum in plasma through the magnetic field, and heating. This paper investigates the differences between Doppler velocities of calcium ions and neutral hydrogen in a solar prominence to look for velocity differences between the neutral and ionized species. We simultaneously observed spectra of a prominence over an active region in H I 397 nm, H I 434 nm, Ca II 397 nm, and Ca II 854 nm using a high dispersion spectrograph of the Domeless Solar Telescope at Hida observatory, and compared the Doppler velocities, derived from the shift of the peak of the spectral lines presumably emitted from optically-thin plasma. There are instances when the difference in velocities between neutral atoms and ions is significant, e.g. 1433 events (~ 3 % of sets of compared profiles) with a difference in velocity between neutral hydrogen atoms and calcium ions greater than 3sigma of the measurement error. However, we also found significant differences between the Doppler velocities of two spectral lines emitted from the same species, and the probability density functions of velocity difference between the same species is not significantly different from those between neutral atoms and ions. We interpreted the difference of Doppler velocities as a result of motions of different components in the prominence along the line of sight, rather than the decoupling of neutral atoms from plasma.

Development of a near-infrared detector and a fiber-optic integral field unit for a space solar observatory SOLAR-C

We are developing a high sensitivity and fast readout near-infrared (NIR) detector and an integral field unit (IFU) for making spectro-polarimetric observations of rapidly varying chromospheric spectrum lines, such as He I 1083 nm and Ca II 854 nm, in the next space-based solar mission SOLAR-C. We made tests of a 1.7 μm cutoff H2RG detector with the SIDECAR ASIC for the application in SOLAR-C. It’s important to verify its perfor- mance in the temperature condition around -100 °C, which is hotter than the typical temperature environment used for a NIR detector. We built a system for testing the detector between -70 °C and -140 °C. We verified linearity, read-out noise, and dark current in both the slow and fast readout modes. We found the detector has to be cooled down lower than -100 °C because of significant increase of the number of hot pixels in the hotter environment. The compact and polarization maintenance IFU was designed using fiber-optic ribbons consisting of rectangular cores which exhibit good polarization maintenance. A Silicone adhesive DC-SE9187L was used to hold the fragile fiber-optic ribbons in a metal housing. Polarization maintenance property was confirmed though polarization calibration as well as temperature control are required to suppress polarization crosstalk and to achieve the polarization accuracy in SOLAR-C.

Developments of the wideband spectropolarimeter of theDomeless Solar Telescope at Hida Observatory

We developed a new universal spectropolarimeter on the Domeless Solar Telescope at Hida Observatory to realize precise spectropolarimetric observations in a wide range of wavelength in visible and near infrared. The system aims to open a new window of plasma diagnostics by using Zeeman effect, Hanle effect, Stark effect, and impact polarization to measure the external magnetic field, electric field, and anisotropies in atomic excitation in solar atmosphere. The polarimeter consists of a 60 cm aperture vacuum telescope, a high dispersion vacuum spectrograph, polarization modulator and analyser composed of a continuously rotating waveplate whose retardation is constant in 400 - 1100 nm and Wallaston prisms located closely behind the focus of the telescope, and a fast and high sensitive CCD camera or a infrared camera. The duration for this polarimeters achieving photometric accuracy of 10-3 is 30 - 60 s. Instrumental polarization of the telescope is calibrated by using a remotely controllable turret accommodating linear polarizer attached at the entrance window of the telescope to induce well known polarized light into the telescope. Thus a Mueller matrix model of the telescope is established to compensate the instrumental polarization included in observed data within the required accuracy.

Developments of a multi-wavelength spectro-polarimeter on the Domeless Solar Telescope at Hida Observatory

To obtain full Stokes spectra in multi-wavelength windows simultaneously, we developed a new spectro-polarimeter on the Domeless Solar Telescope at Hida Observatory. The new polarimeter consists of a 60 cm aperture vacuum telescope on an altazimuth mount, an image rotator, a high dispersion spectrograph, polarization modulator and analyzer composed of a continuously rotating waveplate with a retardation nearly constant around 127