A Statistical Inference Method for Interpreting the CLASP Observations
Abstract
On 2015 September 3, the Chromospheric Lyman-Alpha SpectroPolarimeter (CLASP) successfully measured the linear polarization produced by scattering processes in the hydrogen Lyα line of the solar disk radiation, revealing conspicuous spatial variations in the Q/I and U/I signals. Via the Hanle effect, the line-center Q/I and U/I amplitudes encode information on the magnetic field of the chromosphere-corona transition region, but they are also sensitive to the three-dimensional structure of this corrugated interface region. With the help of a simple line-formation model, here we propose a statistical inference method for interpreting the Lyα line-center polarization observed by CLASP.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- September 2018
- DOI:
- 10.3847/1538-4357/aad910
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1808.02725
- Bibcode:
- 2018ApJ...865...48S
- Keywords:
-
- methods: statistical;
- polarization;
- radiative transfer;
- Sun: chromosphere;
- Sun: transition region;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal