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Free keywords:
methods: statistical; polarization; radiative transfer; Sun: chromosphere; Sun: transition region
Abstract:
On 2015 September 3, the Chromospheric Lyman-Alpha SpectroPolarimeter (CLASP) successfully measured the linear polarization produced by scattering processes in the hydrogen Lyα line of the solar disk radiation, revealing conspicuous spatial variations in the Q/I and U/I signals. Via the Hanle effect, the line-center Q/I and U/I amplitudes encode information on the magnetic field of the chromosphere–corona transition region, but they are also sensitive to the three-dimensional structure of this corrugated interface region. With the help of a simple line-formation model, here we propose a statistical inference method for interpreting the Lyα line-center polarization observed by CLASP.
