On a limitation of Zeeman polarimetry and imperfect instrumentation in representing solar magnetic fields with weaker polarization signal. (arXiv:2101.07204v1 [astro-ph.SR])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Pevtsov_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Alexei A. Pevtsov</a> (1), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Liu_Y/0/1/0/all/0/1">Yang Liu</a> (2), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Virtanen_I/0/1/0/all/0/1">Ilpo Virtanen</a> (3), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bertello_L/0/1/0/all/0/1">Luca Bertello</a> (1), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Mursula_K/0/1/0/all/0/1">Kalevi Mursula</a> (3), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Leka_K/0/1/0/all/0/1">K.D. Leka</a> (4,5), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Hughes_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Anna L.H. Hughes</a> (1) ((1) National Solar Observatory, 3665 Discovery Drive, 3rd Floor, Boulder, CO 80303 USA, (2) Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA, (3) ReSoLVE Centre of Excellence, Space Climate research unit, University of Oulu, POB 3000, FIN-90014, Oulu, Finland, (4) NorthWest Research Associates, 3380 Mitchell Lane, Boulder, CO 80301 USA, (5) Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Furo-cho Chikusa-ku Nagoya, Aichi 464-8601 Japan)
Full disk vector magnetic fields are used widely for developing better
understanding of large-scale structure, morphology, and patterns of the solar
magnetic field. The data are also important for modeling various solar
phenomena. However, observations of vector magnetic fields have one important
limitation that may affect the determination of the true magnetic field
orientation. This limitation stems from our ability to interpret the differing
character of the Zeeman polarization signals which arise from the photospheric
line-of-sight vs. the transverse components of the solar vector magnetic field,
and is likely exacerbated by unresolved structure (non-unity fill fraction) as
well as the disambiguation of the 180$^circ$ degeneracy in the
transverse-field azimuth. Here we provide a description of this phenomenon, and
discuss issues, which require additional investigation.
Full disk vector magnetic fields are used widely for developing better
understanding of large-scale structure, morphology, and patterns of the solar
magnetic field. The data are also important for modeling various solar
phenomena. However, observations of vector magnetic fields have one important
limitation that may affect the determination of the true magnetic field
orientation. This limitation stems from our ability to interpret the differing
character of the Zeeman polarization signals which arise from the photospheric
line-of-sight vs. the transverse components of the solar vector magnetic field,
and is likely exacerbated by unresolved structure (non-unity fill fraction) as
well as the disambiguation of the 180$^circ$ degeneracy in the
transverse-field azimuth. Here we provide a description of this phenomenon, and
discuss issues, which require additional investigation.
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