A Substantial Amount of Hidden Magnetic Energy in the Quiet Sun

Abstract

Deciphering and understanding the small-scale magnetic activity of the quiet solar photosphere should help to solve many of the key problems of solar and stellar physics, such as the magnetic coupling to the outer atmosphere and the coronal heating. At present, we can see only $\sim 1$ of the complex magnetism of the quiet Sun, which highlights the need to develop a reliable way to investigate the remaining 99%. Here we report three-dimensional radiative tranfer modelling of scattering polarization in atomic and molecular lines that indicates the presence of hidden, mixed-polarity fields on subresolution scales. Combining this modelling with recent observational data we find a ubiquitous tangled magnetic field with an average strength of $\sim 130$ G, which is much stronger in the intergranular regions of solar surface convection than in the granular regions. So the average magnetic energy density in the quiet solar photosphere is at least two orders of magnitude greater than that derived from simplistic one-dimensional investigations, and sufficient to balance radiative energy losses from the solar chromosphere.

21 pages and 2 figures (letter published in Nature on July 15, 2004)

References in corpus (4)

• Line formation in solar granulation VI. [C I], C I, CH and C2 lines and the photospheric C abundance
• Quiet Sun magnetic fields at high spatial resolution
• Polarization of photospheric lines from turbulent dynamo simulations
• The Physical Origin of the Scattering Polarization of the Na I D-Lines in the Presence of Weak Magnetic Fields

Cited by in corpus (201)

• The Origin of T Tauri X-ray Emission: New Insights from the Chandra Orion Ultradeep Project
• On the Generation, Propagation, and Reflection of Alfven Waves from the Solar Photosphere to the Distant Heliosphere
• A Tale Of Two Spicules: The Impact of Spicules on the Magnetic Chromosphere
• Numerical simulations of quiet Sun magnetism: On the contribution from a small-scale dynamo
• A solar surface dynamo
• The solar magnetic field
• The elemental composition of the Sun II. The iron group elements Sc to Ni
• High-precision abundances of elements in solar twin stars: Trends with stellar age and elemental condensation temperature
• Emergence of Small-Scale Magnetic Loops in the Quiet Sun Internetwork
• Quiet Sun internetwork magnetic fields from the inversion of Hinode measurements
• Observations of Cool-Star Magnetic Fields
• Magnetism, rotation, and nonthermal emission in cool stars -- Average magnetic field measurements in 292 M dwarfs
• Fluctuation dynamo and turbulent induction at low magnetic Prandtl numbers
• Small-scale solar magnetic fields
• Emergence of small-scale magnetic loops through the quiet solar atmosphere
• The Sun's Supergranulation
• Strong horizontal photospheric magnetic field in a surface dynamo simulation
• Probing quiet Sun magnetism using MURaM simulations and Hinode/SP results: support for a local dynamo
• Coupling from the photosphere to the chromosphere and the corona
• Critical Science Plan for the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST)
• Solar magnetic fields as revealed by Stokes polarimetry
• The European Solar Telescope
• Turbulent small-scale dynamo action in solar surface simulations
• Comparison of transient horizontal magnetic fields in a plage region and in the quiet Sun
• Non-local thermodynamic equilibrium inversions from a 3D MHD chromospheric model
• Low-lying magnetic loops in the solar internetwork
• Radiative diagnostics in the solar photosphere and chromosphere
• Hinode Observations of Magnetic Elements in Internetwork Areas
• Hidden magnetic fields of young suns
• Non-LTE line formation of Fe in late-type stars IV: Modelling of the solar centre-to-limb variation in 3D
• Evidence for Quasi-isotropic Magnetic Fields from Hinode Quiet Sun Observations
• The distribution of Quiet Sun magnetic field strengths from 0 to 1800 G
• On the validity of the 630 nm Fe I nm lines for the magnetometry of the internetwork quiet Sun
• Inelastic O+H collisions and the OI 777nm solar centre-to-limb variation
• Turbulent magnetic fields in the quiet Sun: implications of Hinode observations and small-scale dynamo simulations
• DOT tomography of the solar atmosphere. IV. Magnetic patches in internetwork areas
• The Sun's small-scale magnetic elements in Solar Cycle 23
• Inferring the magnetic field vector in the quiet Sun. I. Photon noise and Selection Criteria
• Magnetic bright points in the quiet Sun
• Quiet Sun magnetic fields from simultaneous inversions of visible and infrared spectropolarimetric observations
• Coarse-Grained Incompressible Magnetohydrodynamics: analyzing the turbulent cascades
• The Structure and Dynamics of the Upper Chromosphere and Lower Transition Region as Revealed by the Subarcsecond VAULT Observations
• On the minimum temperature of the quiet solar chromosphere
• Internetwork magnetic field distribution from simultaneous 1.56 micron and 630 nm observations
• Analysis of Quiet-Sun Internetwork Magnetic Fields Based on Linear Polarization Signals
• Wavelength-Diverse Polarization Modulators for Stokes Polarimetry
• Basal magnetic flux and the local solar dynamo
• Small magnetic loops connecting the quiet surface and the hot outer atmosphere of the Sun
• Universality of the Small-Scale Dynamo Mechanism
• Observational Evidence for Small-Scale Mixture of Weak and Strong Fields in the Quiet Sun
• Near-IR internetwork spectro-polarimetry at different heliocentric angles
• Solar abundance corrections derived through 3D magnetoconvection simulations
• Modelling the Rossiter-McLaughlin Effect: Impact of the Convective Centre-to-Limb Variations in the Stellar Photosphere
• A novel investigation of the small-scale magnetic activity of the quiet Sun via the Hanle effect in the Sr I 4607 Å line
• Stellar Surface Magneto-Convection as a Source of Astrophysical Noise III. Sun-as-a-star Simulations and Optimal Noise Diagnostics
• Three-dimensional Radiative Transfer Modeling of the Polarization of the Sun's Continuous Spectrum
• The quiet Sun average Doppler shift of coronal lines up to 2 MK
• The Solar Internetwork. II. Magnetic Flux Appearance and Disappearance Rates
• Determining the Magnetization of the Quiet Sun Photosphere from the Hanle Effect and Surface Dynamo Simulations
• Concerning the existence of a 'turbulent' magnetic field in the quiet Sun
• The magnetic flux of the quiet Sun internetwork as observed with the Tenerife Infrared Polarimeter
• Internetwork magnetic field as revealed by 2D inversions
• Numerical simulations of quiet Sun magnetic fields seeded by Biermann battery
• High-resolution, high-sensitivity, ground-based solar spectropolarimetry with a new fast imaging polarimeter
• Scattering Polarization and Hanle Effect in Stellar Atmospheres with Horizontal Inhomogeneities
• Solar Fe abundance and magnetic fields - Towards a consistent reference metallicity
• The energy of waves in the photosphere and lower chromosphere: 1. Velocity statistics
• The brightness of magnetic field concentrations in the quiet Sun
• Convective Dynamos and the Minimum X-ray Flux in Main Sequence Stars
• Synthetic observations of wave propagation in a sunspot umbra
• The Scattering Polarization of the Sr I 4607 ÅLine at the Diffraction Limit Resolution of a 1-m Telescope
• MHD wave propagation from the sub-photosphere to the corona in an arcade-shaped magnetic field with a null point
• Scaling laws for magnetic fields on the quiet Sun
• Solar Magnetic Tracking. IV. The Death of Magnetic Features
• Diagnostics of Coronal Magnetic Fields Through the Hanle Effect in UV and IR Lines
• Fast-to-Alfvén Mode Conversion Mediated by Hall Current. I. Cold Plasma Model
• Small-scale dynamos: From idealized models to solar and stellar applications
• Solar BaII 4554 A line as Doppler diagnostics: NLTE analysis in 3D hydrodynamical model
• Inclinations of small quiet-Sun magnetic features based on a new geometric approach
• Observed and Simulated Power Spectra of Kinetic and Magnetic Energy retrieved with 2D inversions
• Theory and Modeling of the Zeeman and Paschen-Back effects in Molecular Lines
• The transfer of resonance line polarization with partial frequency redistribution in the general Hanle-Zeeman regime
• Dead calm areas in the very quiet Sun
• Chromospheric heating due to cancellation of quiet Sun internetwork fields
• Solar surface and atmospheric dynamics: The Photosphere
• Spatial and temporal distributions of transient horizontal magnetic fields with deep exposure
• On detectability of Zeeman broadening in optical spectra of F- and G-dwarfs
• Sunrise III: Overview of Observatory and Instruments
• CLASP Constraints on the Magnetization and Geometrical Complexity of the Chromosphere-Corona Transition Region
• Realistic modeling of local dynamo processes on the Sun
• Small-scale Dynamo in Cool Stars: I. Changes in stratification and near-surface convection for main-sequence spectral types
• Hydrodynamical simulations of convection-related stellar micro-variability. II. The enigmatic granulation background of the COROT target HD49933
• A near-IR line of Mn I as a diagnostic tool of the average magnetic energy in the solar photosphere
• History of Solar Magnetic Fields since George Ellery Hale
• NLTE modeling of Stokes vector center-to-limb variations in the CN violet system
• Can 1D radiative equilibrium models of faculae be used for calculating contamination of transmission spectra?
• Chromospheric diagnosis with Ca II lines: forward modeling in forward scattering (I)
• Temporal Evolution of the Scattering Polarization of the CaII IR Triplet in Hydrodynamical Models of the Solar Chromosphere
• Inference of magnetic fields in the very quiet Sun
• On the Sr I 4607 A Hanle depolarization signals in the quiet Sun
• Numerical determination of the cutoff frequency in solar models
• X-ray activity and rotation of the young stars in IC 348
• Multi-wavelength high-resolution observations of a small-scale emerging magnetic flux event and the chromospheric and coronal response
• The Quiet-Sun Photosphere and Chromosphere
• On the role of magnetic fields in abundance determinations
• Bihelical spectrum of solar magnetic helicity and its evolution
• Continuum intensity and [O I] spectral line profiles in solar 3D photospheric models: the effect of magnetic fields
• Dichroic Masers due to Radiation Anisotropy and the Influence of the Hanle Effect on the Circumstellar SiO Polarization
• The Multi-Species Farley-Buneman Instability in the Solar Chromosphere
• The discrepancy in G-band contrast: Where is the quiet Sun?
• 3D magneto-hydrodynamical simulations of stellar convective noise for improved exoplanet detection. I. Case of regularly sampled radial velocity observations
• A simple model for the distribution of quiet Sun magnetic field strengths
• Oscillation Power in Sunspots and Quiet Sun from Hankel Analysis Performed on SDO/HMI and SDO/AIA Data
• Hierarchical analysis of the quiet Sun magnetism
• Small-scale dynamo in cool main sequence stars. II. The effect of metallicity
• Origin of spatial variations of scattering polarization in the wings of the Ca {\sc i} 4227 Åline
• The Meso-Structured Magnetic Atmosphere -- A Stochastic Polarized Radiative Transfer Approach
• Testing MURaM and MPS-ATLAS against the quiet solar spectrum
• Recent Advances in Chromospheric and Coronal Polarization Diagnostics
• Evidence for collisional depolarization in the MgH lines of the second solar spectrum
• Acoustic-gravity wave propagation characteristics in 3D radiation hydrodynamic simulations of the solar atmosphere
• Fleeting Small-scale Surface Magnetic Fields Build the Quiet-Sun Corona
• Mesogranulation and small-scale dynamo action in the quiet Sun
• Depolarizing collisions with hydrogen: neutral and singly ionized alkaline earths
• Are collisions with neutral hydrogen important for modelling the Second Solar Spectrum of Ti I and Ca II ?
• Transport of magnetic flux from the canopy to the internetwork
• Search for photospheric footpoints of quiet Sun transition region loops
• Chromospheric signatures of small-scale flux emergence as observed with NST and Hinode instruments
• Solar disk center shows scattering polarization in the Sr I 4607 Å line
• Quiet Sun Magnetic Field Measurements Based on Lines with Hyperfine Structure
• On the Probable Existence of an Abrupt Magnetization in the Upper Chromosphere of the Quiet Sun
• A Comprehensive Simulation of Solar Wind Formation from the Solar Interior: Significant Cross-field Energy Transport by Interchange Reconnection near the Sun
• Photospheric Hanle diagnostic of weak magnetic dipoles in stars
• Mapping the hidden magnetic field of the quiet Sun
• The physical origin and the diagnostic potential of the scattering polarization in the lithium resonance doublet at 6708 A
• On the Sensitivity of Partial Redistribution Scattering Polarization Profiles to Various Atmospheric Parameters
• The solar internetwork. III. Unipolar versus bipolar flux appearance
• Temporal evolution of small-scale internetwork magnetic fields in the solar photosphere
• Methodology for estimating the magnetic Prandtl number and application to solar surface small-scale dynamo simulations
• Selected topics in the evolution of low-mass stars
• Center-to-limb variation of the area covered by magnetic bright points in the quiet Sun
• Observations on spatial variations of the Sr~{\sc i} 4607~Å~scattering polarization signals at different limb distances with ZIMPOL
• Hanle effect in the CN violet system with LTE modeling
• Estimating the longitudinal magnetic field in the chromosphere of quiet-Sun magnetic concentrations
• Detection of spatially structured scattering polarization of Sr I $4607.3$ Å\ with the Fast Solar Polarimeter
• Influence of ambipolar and Hall effects on vorticity in 3D simulations of magneto-convection
• NuSTAR as an Axion Helioscope
• Observations of solar scattering polarization at high spatial resolution
• Statistical analysis of the very quiet Sun magnetism
• Magnetic flux in the inter-network quiet Sun from comparison with numerical simulations
• High-resolution spectroscopy and spectropolarimetry of the total lunar eclipse January 2019
• Hanle rotation signatures in Sr I 4607 Å
• Magnetic Coupling in the Quiet Solar Atmosphere
• Constraining the magnetic vector in the quiet solar photosphere and the impact of instrumental degradation
• Structure and dynamics of the internetwork solar chromosphere: results of a small-scale dynamo simulation
• The solar photospheric silicon abundance according to CO5BOLD: Investigating line broadening, magnetic fields, and model effects
• Solar-cycle and Latitude Variations in the Internetwork Magnetism
• Doppler shifts of spectral lines formed in the solar transition region and corona
• General model of depolarization and transfer of polarization of singly ionized atoms by collisions with hydrogen atoms
• Retrieval of solar magnetic fields from high-spatial resolution filtergraph data: the Imaging Magnetograph eXperiment (IMaX)
• The polarization signature of photospheric magnetic fields in 3D MHD simulations and observations at disk center
• Solar magneto-convection
• The impact of limited time resolution on the forward-scattering polarization in the solar Sr I 4607 Å line
• The Position of High Frequency Waves with Respect to the Granulation Pattern
• Scales of the magnetic fields in the quiet Sun
• Effect of the isotropic collisions with neutral hydrogen on the polarization of the CN solar molecule
• Ultraviolet Spectropolarimetry: Investigating stellar magnetic field diagnostics
• Multi-dimensional radiative transfer to analyze Hanle effect in Ca {\sc ii} K line at 3933 Å\,
• Evidence of quiet Sun chromospheric activity related to an emerging small-scale magnetic loop
• Assessment of the CRD approximation for the observer's frame RIII redistribution matrix
• Towards Spectroscopically Detecting the Global Latitudinal Temperature Variation on the Solar Surface
• Scattering line polarization in rotating, optically thick disks
• High-Resolution Observations of a Small-Scale Cancellation Nanoflare: Supporting Evidence for the Cancellation Nanoflare Model
• Global impact of emerging internetwork fields on the low solar atmosphere
• A meta-analysis of the magnetic line broadening in the solar atmosphere
• Magnetic field distribution in the quiet Sun: a simplified model approach
• Inversion of Zeeman polarization for solar magnetic field diagnostics
• Scattering polarization of the $d$-states of ions and solar magnetic field: Effects of isotropic collisions
• Measuring the Hidden Aspects of Solar Magnetism
• Spectropolarimetric diagnostics of unresolved magnetic fields in the quiet solar photosphere
• High-resolution spectroscopy of Boyajian's star during optical dimming events
• Exploring the small-scale magnetic fields of the solar analog KIC 8006161 using asteroseismology
• Convergence study of ambipolar diffusion in realistic simulations of magneto-convection
• Magnetic Imaging of the Outer Solar Atmosphere (MImOSA): Unlocking the driver of the dynamics in the upper solar atmosphere
• Dynamic Models of the Sun from the Convection Zone to the Chromosphere
• Signatures for Solar Axions/WISPs
• DKIST resolves sub-arcsec photospheric scattering polarization
• Estimating the magnetic field strength from magnetograms
• Nature of the solar dynamo at small scales
• An iterative OLA method for inversion of solar spectropolarimetric data: I. Single and multiple variable inversions of thermodynamic quantities
• Turbulent magnetic energy spectrum and the cancellation function of solar photospheric magnetic fields
• Collisional effects on the formation of the second solar spectrum of the Sr {\sc ii} $\lambda$4078 line
• Experimental Testing of Scattering Polarization Models
• Exploring the Small-scale Magnetic Fields in the Atmosphere of HD 49385 by Asteroseismic Analysis
• Emergence of internetwork magnetic fields through the solar atmosphere
• Nature of the energy source powering solar coronal loops driven by nanoflares
• Can small-scale magnetic fields be the major cause for the near-surface effect of the solar p-mode frequencies?
• The effect of local magnetic fields in quiet regions of stellar atmospheres simulated with MANCHA
• Observational insights into Sr I 4607 Å scattering polarization with DKIST/ViSP
• Asteroseismic Analysis of a Red Giant KIC 9145955 by Including the Small-scale Magnetic Fields in the Atmosphere
• Radio Burst and Circular Polarization Studies of the Solar Corona at Low Frequencies