Three-dimensional Radiative Transfer Modeling of the Polarization of the Sun’s Continuous Spectrum

Polarized light provides the most reliable source of information at our disposal for diagnosing the physical properties of astrophysical plasmas, including the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the solar atmosphere. Here we formulate and solve the 3D radiative transfer problem of the linear polarization of the solar continuous radiation, which is principally produced by Rayleigh and Thomson scattering. Our approach takes into account not only the anisotropy of the solar continuum radiation, but also the symmetry-breaking effects caused by the horizontal atmospheric inhomogeneities produced by the solar surface convection. We show that such symmetry-breaking effects do produce observable signatures in Q/I and U/I, even at the very center of the solar disk where we observe the forward scattering case, but their detection would require obtaining very-high-resolution linear polarization images of the solar surface. Without spatial and/or temporal resolution U/I≈0 and the only observable quantity is Q/I, whose wavelength variation at a solar disk position close to the limb has been recently determined semi-empirically. Interestingly, our 3D radiative transfer modeling of the polarization of the Sun’s continuous spectrum in a well-known 3D hydrodynamical model of the solar photosphere shows remarkable agreement with the semi-empirical determination, significantly better than that obtained via the use of one-dimensional (1D) atmospheric models. Although this result confirms that the above-mentioned 3D model was indeed a suitable choice for our Hanle-effect estimation of the substantial amount of “hidden” magnetic energy Instituto de Astrof́ısica de Canarias, 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cient́ıficas (Spain) Main Astronomical Observatory, National Academy of Sciences, 27 Zabolotnogo Street, Kiev 03680, Ukraine