A relation between magnetic field strength and temperature in sunspots

✍ Scribed by Greg Kopp; Douglas Rabin

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 613 KB
• Volume: 141
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0038-0938
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00155178

✦ Synopsis

We present Stokes I Zeeman splitting measurements of sunspots using the highly sensitive (g = 3) FeI line at 2 = 1.5649 ~m. The splittings are compared with simultaneous intensity measurements in the adjacent continuum. The relation between magnetic field strength and temperature has a characteristic, nonlinear shape in all the spots studied. In the umbra, there is an approximately linear relation between B 2 and Tb, consistent with magnetohydrostatic equilibrium in a nearly vertical field. A distinct flattening of the B 2 vs T b relationship in the inner penumbra may be due to changes in the lateral pressure balance as the magnetic field becomes more horizontal; spatially unresolved intensity inhomogeneities may also influence the observed relation.