Fibrils are thin elongated features visible in the solar chromosphere in and around magnetized regions. Because of their visual appearance, they have been traditionally considered a tracer of the magnetic field lines. For the first time, we challenge that notion, by comparing their orientation to that of the magnetic field, obtained via high-resolution spectropolarimetric observations of Ca ii lines. The short answer to the question posed in the title is that mostly yes, but not always.
@article{arxiv.1101.3551,
title = {Are solar chromospheric fibrils tracing the magnetic field?},
author = {J. de la Cruz Rodríguez and H. Socas-Navarro},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1101.3551},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
4 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics