Scattering polarization in the presence of magnetic and electric fields

Oo, Yee Yee and Sampoornab, M and Nagendrab, KN and Ananthamurthy, Sharath and Ramachandranb, G (2007) Scattering polarization in the presence of magnetic and electric fields. In: Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer, 108 (2). pp. 161-179.

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Abstract

The polarization of radiation by scattering on an atom embedded in combined external quadrupole electric and uniform magnetic fields is studied theoretically. Limiting cases of scattering under Zeeman effect, and Hanle effect in weak magnetic fields are discussed. The theory is general enough to handle scattering in intermediate magnetic fields (Hanle-Zeeman effect) and for arbitrary orientation of magnetic field. The quadrupolar electric field produces asymmetric line shifts, and causes interesting level-crossing phenomena either in the absence of an ambient magnetic field, or in its presence. It is shown that the quadrupolar electric field produces an additional depolarization in the Q/I profiles and rotation of the plane of polarization in the U/I profile over and above that arising from magnetic field itself. This characteristic may have a diagnostic potential to detect steady-state and time-varying electric fields that surround radiating atoms in solar atmospheric layers. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs Elsevier Science
Keywords:	Atomic processes;Polarization;Scattering;Magnetic field;Line profiles.
Department/Centre:	Division of Physical & Mathematical Sciences > Joint Astronomy Programme
Date Deposited:	26 Apr 2010 07:36
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 06:00
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/27271

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