An uncombed inversion of multi-wavelength observations reproducing the Net Circular Polarization in a sunspots' penumbra

TL;DR

This study develops a geometrical uncombed inversion model to reproduce the Net Circular Polarization in sunspot penumbra spectra, revealing the magnetic flux distribution and flow channel characteristics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel uncombed inversion approach that models magnetic field interlacing and reproduces NCP across multiple wavelengths in sunspot penumbrae.

Findings

Flow channels contain 20-50% of magnetic flux.

Model reproduces NCP well on limb side, less on center side.

Flow channels are nearly horizontal near the surface.

Abstract

I derived a geometrical model of the penumbral magnetic field topology from an uncombed inversion setup that aimed at reproducing the NCP of simultaneous spectra in near-IR (1.56 mu) and VIS (630 nm) spectral lines. I inverted the spectra of five photospheric lines with a model that mimicked vertically interlaced magnetic fields with two components, labeled background field and flow channels. The flow channels were modeled as a perturbation of the background field with a Gaussian shape using the SIRGAUS code. The location and extension of the Gaussian perturbation in the optical depth scale was then converted to a geometrical height scale. I investigated the relative amount of magnetic flux in the flow channels and the background field atmosphere. The uncombed model is able to reproduce the NCP well on the limb side of the spot and worse on the center side; the VIS lines are better reproduced than the near-IR lines. The Evershed flow happens along nearly horizontal field lines close to the solar surface. The magnetic flux that is related to the flow channels makes up about 20-50% of the total magnetic flux in the penumbra. The gradients obtainable by a Gaussian perturbation are too small for a perfect reproduction of the NCP in the IR lines with their small formation height range. Two peculiarities of the observed NCP, a sign change of the NCP of the VIS lines on the center side and a ring structure around the umbra in the Ti line at 630.37nm and the FeI line at 1565.2nm deserve closer attention. The large fraction of magnetic flux related to the flow channel component could allow to replenish the penumbral radiative losses in the flux tube picture.