Spectropolarimetric investigations of the magnetization of the quiet Sun chromosphere

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in spectropolarimetric diagnostics to infer the magnetic properties of the quiet Sun's atmosphere, highlighting significant magnetization in the photosphere and upper chromosphere, but weak magnetization in the lower chromosphere.

Contribution

It synthesizes recent developments in polarized radiation diagnostics and interprets scattering polarization data to assess magnetic field strengths across solar atmospheric layers.

Findings

Photosphere and upper chromosphere are strongly magnetized.

Lower chromosphere appears weakly magnetized.

Spectropolarimetric methods provide insights into solar magnetic fields.

Abstract

This paper reviews some recent advances in the development and application of polarized radiation diagnostics to infer the mean magnetization of the quiet solar atmosphere, from the near equilibrium photosphere to the highly non-equilibrium upper chromosphere. In particular, I show that interpretations of the scattering polarization observed in some spectral lines suggest that while the magnetization of the photosphere and upper chromosphere is very significant, the lower chromosphere seems to be weakly magnetized.