Advanced Solar Polarimetry

Annotation This proceedings volume of the September 2000 workshop presents recent developments in spectropolarimetry and the measurement of solar magnetic fields using the Zeeman and Hanle effects. The 67 papers address new instrumentation for telescopes, weak polarization and coronal magnetic fields, infrared polarimetry and the physics of active regions, magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, high resolutions polarimetry and the physics of flux tubes, and the analysis of Stokes profiles. No subject index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

The advances in solar, planetary, and extrasolar science employing polarimetric tools are far-reaching, and the pace of discovery is accelerating rapidly. In the last three decades, the emphasis of solar polarimetry has been to achieve simultaneously high spectral, spatial, and temporal resolution for all four Stokes parameters. In the field of stellar polarimetry the developments have been equally impressive, in allowing the detection and surface mapping of magnetic fields across the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. This volume, arising from IAU Symposium 305, is devoted to sharing advances in science, data analysis, modeling, and instrumentation between solar and non-solar polarimetry communities. Given the relevance of polarimetric measurements to many aspects of astrophysics, the techniques and physical interpretations addressed within the book will be of interest to a wide audience of researchers and advanced students, in addition to those from solar and stellar communities.

Novel instruments for high-precision imaging polarimetry have opened new possibilities, including for exploring effects in radiative scattering, atomic physics, spectral line formation, and radiative transfer. This volume gives a comprehensive and up-to-date account of this rapidly evolving and interdisciplinary field of science.

The polarization of light is the key to obtaining a wealth of essential information that lies encoded in the electromagnetic radiation from cosmic objects. Spectropolarimetry and imaging polarimetry provide powerful diagnostics of the physical conditions in astrophysical plasmas, which cannot be obtained via conventional spectroscopy. Whilst its application to other fields of astrophysics is still at an early stage of development, spectropolarimetry is being used with great success in solar physics. The book contains the lectures delivered at the XII Canary Islands Winter School of Astrophysics. Written by eight prestigious astrophysics researchers, it covers the physics of polarization, polarized radiation diagnostics of solar magnetic fields, stellar magnetic fields, polarization insights for active galactic nuclei, compact objects and accretion disks, astronomical masers and their polarization, infrared-submillimeter spectropolarimetry, and instrumentation for astrophysical spectropolarimetry. This timely volume will provide graduate students and researchers with an unprecedented introduction to the field of Astrophysical Spectropolarimetry.

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