Global maps of the magnetic field in the solar corona

Zihao Yang; Christian Bethge; Hui Tian; Steven Tomczyk; Richard Morton; Giulio Del Zanna; Scott W McIntosh; Bidya Binay Karak; Sarah Gibson; Tanmoy Samanta; Jiansen He; Yajie Chen; Linghua Wang

doi:10.1126/science.abb4462

Global maps of the magnetic field in the solar corona

Science. 2020 Aug 7;369(6504):694-697. doi: 10.1126/science.abb4462.

Authors

Zihao Yang¹, Christian Bethge^{2

3}, Hui Tian^{4

5}, Steven Tomczyk⁶, Richard Morton⁷, Giulio Del Zanna⁸, Scott W McIntosh³, Bidya Binay Karak⁹, Sarah Gibson³, Tanmoy Samanta^{10

11}, Jiansen He¹, Yajie Chen^{1

12}, Linghua Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China.
² Universities Space Research Association, Huntsville, AL 35805, USA.
³ High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80307, USA.
⁴ School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China. huitian@pku.edu.cn tomczyk@ucar.edu.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Solar Activity, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, People's Republic of China.
⁶ High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80307, USA. huitian@pku.edu.cn tomczyk@ucar.edu.
⁷ Department of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK.
⁸ Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0WA, UK.
⁹ Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi 221005, India.
¹⁰ Department of Physics and Astronomy, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA.
¹¹ Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA.
¹² Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.

PMID: 32764071
DOI: 10.1126/science.abb4462

Abstract

Understanding many physical processes in the solar atmosphere requires determination of the magnetic field in each atmospheric layer. However, direct measurements of the magnetic field in the Sun's corona are difficult to obtain. Using observations with the Coronal Multi-channel Polarimeter, we have determined the spatial distribution of the plasma density in the corona and the phase speed of the prevailing transverse magnetohydrodynamic waves within the plasma. We combined these measurements to map the plane-of-sky component of the global coronal magnetic field. The derived field strengths in the corona, from 1.05 to 1.35 solar radii, are mostly 1 to 4 gauss. Our results demonstrate the capability of imaging spectroscopy in coronal magnetic field diagnostics.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't