Paper Accepted for Publication in the Astrophysical Journal

David McKenzie and Ken Kobayashi (ST13) are co-authors on a manuscript recently accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, entitled “Evidence for the Operation of the Hanle and Magneto-Optical Effects in the Scattering Polarization Signals Observed by CLASP2 Across the Mg ii h & k Lines”.  Radiative transfer investigations of the solar Mg ii h & k resonance lines around 280 nm have showed that while their circular polarization (Stokes V) signals arise from the Zeeman effect, the linear polarization profiles (Stokes Q and U) are dominated by the scattering of anisotropic radiation and the Hanle and magneto-optical (MO) effects.  Using the unprecedented observations of the Mg ii and Mn i resonance lines obtained by the Chromospheric LAyer Spectro-Polarimeter (CLASP2), we investigate how the linear polarization signals at different wavelengths (i.e., at the center, and at the near and far wings of the k line) vary with the longitudinal component of the magnetic field (BL) at their approximate height of formation.  We find that at the center and near wings of the k line, the behavior of these quantities is significantly different in the observed quiet and plage regions, and that they seem to depend on BL. These observational results are indicative of the operation of the Hanle effect at the center of the k line and of the MO effects at the near wings of the k line.

Find the article at: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/acb64e.