[38.07] The Diagnostic Potential of the CaII 8542 spectral line for Stokes I, V Spectropolarimetry

AAS 200th meeting, Albuquerque, NM, June 2002
Session 38. Solar Photosphere, Chromosphere and Transition Region
Display, Tuesday, June 4, 2002, 10:00am-6:30pm, SW Exhibit Hall

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[38.07] The Diagnostic Potential of the CaII 8542 spectral line for Stokes I, V Spectropolarimetry

K. S. Balasubramaniam, H. Uitenbroek, J. W. Havey (National Solar Observatory), H Jones (NASA/GSFC - South West Solar Station)

The number of available spectral lines to probe magnetic fields in the solar chromosphere from the ground is practically limited to resonance lines of hydrogen, calcium, sodium and magnesium and the multiplets of helium. The range of heights over which each these spectral lines form extends over several hundred kilometers and temperatures over several hundreds of degrees, in a significantly non-local thermodynamic equilibrium atmosphere. In this paper we explore the diagnostic potential of the CaII 8542 A spectral line and the inference of active region magnetic and velocity fields.

We will provide a NLTE analysis of the radiative transfer of this spectral line in the presence of magnetic fields and compare theoretical and measured spectral line profiles (observed using the NSO/KP Vacuum Telescope), to infer magnetic field strengths using the center-of-gravity separation of the Stokes (I+V), (I-V) components, and using the weak field approximation.

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