Related papers: A New Mechanism for Polarizing Light from Obscured…
The polarization of light across spectral lines contains information about the circumstellar material on small spatial scales. Many models relate the circumstellar environment to observable polarization changes across spectral lines.…
Using the HiVIS spectropolarimeter built for the Haleakala 3.7m AEOS telescope, we have obtained a large number of high precision spectropolarimetrc observations (284) of Herbig AeBe stars collected over 53 nights totaling more than 300…
The polarization of light across individual spectral lines contains information about the circumstellar environment on very small spatial scales. We have obtained a large number of high precision, high resolution spectropolarimetric…
The near-star environment around obscured stars is very dynamic. Many classes of stars show evidence for winds, disks, inflows and outflows with many phenomena occurring simultaneously. These processes are involved in stellar evolution,…
We present the results of spectropolarimetric observations of 12 Herbig Ae/Be objects. Our data have the largest spectropolarimetric wavelength coverage, 4560 {\AA} to 9480 {\AA}, published to date. A change in linear polarisation across…
This article presents an introduction to optical pumping, atomic polarization and the Hanle effect in weakly magnetized stellar atmospheres. Although the physical processes and the theoretical framework described here are of interest for…
Scattering of light from an anisotropic source produces linear polarization in spectral lines and the continuum. In the outer layers of a stellar atmosphere the anisotropy of the radiation field is typically dominated by the radiation…
Sensitive measurements of the linearly polarized spectra of stars can be used to deduce geometric properties of their otherwise unresolved circumstellar environments. This paper describes some of the evidence for optical pumping and…
Magnetic fields play a key role in most astrophysical systems, from the Sun to active galactic nuclei. They can be studied through their effects on atomic energy levels, which produce polarized spectral lines. In particular, anisotropic…
We present Halpha spectropolarimetry observations of a sample of 23 Herbig Ae/Be stars. A change in the linear polarisation across Halpha is detected in a large fraction of the objects, which indicates that the regions around Herbig stars…
We review the problem of proton beam bombardment of solar chromosphere considering the self-consistent NLTE polarized radiation transfer in hydrogen lines. Several observations indicate a linear polarization of the H-alpha line of the order…
We report a spectropolarimetric study of the post-AGB binary system 89 Herculis, based on data acquired with the high-resolution Catania Astrophysical Observatory Spectropolarimeter, the HArps-North POlarimeter and the Echelle…
We show here that the absorptive H-alpha polarized line profile previously seen in many Herbig Ae/Be (HAeBe) stars is a nearly ubiquitous feature of other types of embedded or obscured stars. This characteristic 1% linear polarization…
We consider the polarization arising from scattering in an envelope illuminated by a central anisotropic source. Spherical harmonics are used to describe both the light source anisotropy and the envelope density distribution functions of…
We present Halpha linear spectropolarimetry of a large sample of Herbig Ae/Be stars. Together with newly obtained data for 17 objects, the sample contains 56 objects, the largest such sample to date. A change in linear polarization across…
The peak amplitude of linear polarization detected recently from an extrasolar hot giant planet HD 189733b, is a few times of $10^{-4}$, more than an order of magnitude higher than all theoretical predictions. Rayleigh scattering off $H_2$…
We studied the polarised spectrum of the post-AGB binary system 89\,Herculis on the basis of data collected with the high resolution \emph{Catania Astrophysical Observatory Spectropolarimeter}, \emph{HArps-North POlarimeter} and…
New observations of 9 of the brightest northern O stars have been made with the Breger polarimeter on the 0.9~m telescope at McDonald Observatory and the AnyPol polarimeter on the 0.4~m telescope at Limber Observatory, using the…
There is an ongoing debate about the origin and even the very existence of a high degree of linear polarization of some chromospheric spectral lines observed in solar flares. The standard explanation of these measurements is in terms of the…
We calculate the degree of linear polarization of radiation from stars having planets that may not be resolved spatially. We assume single scattering by water and silicate particulates in the planetary atmosphere. The dilution of the…