Related papers: Observations of solar scattering polarization at h…
We present novel spectropolarimetric observations of the hydrogen H$\alpha$ line taken with the Z\"urich Imaging Polarimeter (ZIMPOL) at the Gregory Coud\'e Telescope of the Istituto Ricerche Solari Locarno (IRSOL). The linear polarization…
The main goal of this thesis has been to investigate the effects that the macroscopic vertical velocity fields have on the scattering polarization signals formed in the solar chromosphere. Until now, the impact of macroscopic motions had…
Different analyses of identical Hinode SOT/SP data of quiet-sun magnetic fields have in the past led to contradictory answers to the question of whether the angular distribution of field vectors is preferentially horizontal or vertical.…
The Hanle effect in strong spectral lines is the physical mechanism that should be increasingly exploited for quantitative explorations of the magnetism of the quiet solar chromospheric plasma. Here we show, by means of multilevel radiative…
We present the design and the prototype of the Small Synoptic Second Solar Spectrum Telescope (S5T), which can autonomously measure scattering polarization signals on a daily basis with large sensitivity and accuracy. Its data will be used…
Scattering polarization signals in the Sr I 4607 \AA\ spectral line are among the strongest originating from the solar photosphere, offering a powerful diagnostic of tangled magnetic fields in the 3--300 G range via the Hanle effect.…
The behavior of the observed polarization amplitudes with spatial resolution is a strong constraint on the nature and organization of solar magnetic fields below the resolution limit. We study the polarization of the very quiet Sun at…
The chromosphere of the quiet Sun is an important stellar atmospheric region whose thermal and magnetic structure we need to decipher for unlocking new discoveries in solar and stellar physics. To this end, we must identify and exploit…
This paper reviews some of the developments that over the last 10 years have allowed us to go from deciphering the physical origin of several of the enigmatic features of the second solar spectrum to discovering unknown aspects of the Sun's…
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…
Magnetic fields are important for stellar photospheres and magnetospheres, influencing photospheric physics and sculpting stellar winds. Observations of stellar magnetic fields are typically made in the visible, although infrared…
One of the key research problems in stellar physics is to decipher the small-scale magnetic activity of the quiet solar atmosphere. Recent magneto-convection simulations that account for small-scale dynamo action have provided…
The Sun is the only star where the superficial turbulent convection can be observed at very high spatial resolution. The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has continuously observed the full Sun from space with multi-wavelength filters since…
The Sr~{\sc i} 4607~\AA\ spectral line shows one of the strongest scattering polarization signals in the visible solar spectrum. The amplitude of this polarization signal is expected to vary at granular spatial scales, due to the combined…
Recent spectropolarimetric observations of active region filaments have revealed polarization profiles with signatures typical of the strong field Zeeman regime. The conspicuous absence in those observations of scattering polarization and…
Due to the quick evolution of the solar chromosphere, its magnetic field cannot be inferred reliably without accounting for the temporal variations of its polarized light. This has been broadly overlooked in the modelling and interpretation…
This is a theoretical investigation on the formation of the linearly polarized line spectrum of ionized cerium in the sun. We calculate the scattering line polarization pattern emergent from a plane-parallel layer of Ce {\sc ii} atoms…
Chromospheric magnetic fields are notoriously diffcult to measure. The chromospheric lines are broad, while the fields are producing a minuscule Zeeman-effect polarization. A promising diagnostic alternative is provided by the…
Scattering line polarization and the Hanle effect are among the most important mechanisms for diagnostics of the solar and stellar atmospheres. The fact that real stellar atmospheres are horizontally inhomogeneous makes the spectral…
This paper addresses the modelling issue of the linearly-polarized solar limb spectrum, which is due to scattering processes and it offers a rich diagnostic potential for exploring solar magnetic fields via the Hanle effect. However, this…