Science with Solar-B solar optical telescope

SOLAR-B to be launched in the summer of 2006 will carry optical, EUV and X-ray telescopes. The prime purpose is to track the sub-surface generation and transport of magnetic fields and its eventual dissipation in the corona. Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) is a 50cm telescope (0.2 arcsec resolution at 0.5micron, wavelengths: 380nm-670nm, FOV: 328 x 164 arcsec) with spectro-polarimeter (0.16 arcsec pixel) and with filtergraph for high spatial and temporal observations (0.08 arcsec pixel). SOT is a combination of the flying Advanced Stokes Polarimeter and the flying Swedish solar telescope (with lesser spatial resolution) with 24 hour coverage. Polarimetric and helioseismic approaches allow us to simultaneously observe the magnetic fields on and below the photosphere. Configuration of sub-surface and emergent magnetic flux tubes, emergence, submergence, and cancellation of magnetic fields, disintegration and transport of sunspot fields, direct detection of various MHD waves, role of magnetic helicity and flows, nature of elemental flux tubes are among the massive topics to be pursued with SOT. SOT also brings fusion of observations and numerical MHD simulation. Time-dependent boundary-data of magnetic and velocity fields may be directly fed to the MHD system in the computer to predict its evolution, that is compared with the X-ray and EUV data.