Multi-wavelength study of a delta-spot I: A region of very strong, horizontal magnetic field

TL;DR

This study investigates a delta sunspot with extremely strong, nearly horizontal magnetic fields using multi-wavelength spectropolarimetry, revealing fields up to 3800 G and complex profiles challenging standard sunspot models.

Contribution

It provides detailed measurements of very strong, horizontal magnetic fields in a delta sunspot, utilizing advanced inversion techniques to analyze anomalous spectropolarimetric profiles.

Findings

Largest magnetic fields of 3500-3800 G near the polarity inversion line.

Detection of anomalous Stokes profiles not explained by simple models.

Identification of strong blueshifts up to 3.8 km/s in the region.

Abstract

Active region NOAA 11035 appeared in December 2009, early in the new solar activity cycle. This region achieved a delta sunspot ($\delta$-spot) configuration when parasitic flux emerged near the rotationally leading magnetic polarity and traveled through the penumbra of the largest sunspot in the group. Both visible and infrared imaging spectropolarimetry of the magnetically sensitive Fe I line pairs at 6302 \AA\ and 15650 \AA\ show large Zeeman splitting in the penumbra between the parasitic umbra and the main sunspot umbra. The polarized Stokes spectra in the strongest field region display anomalous profiles, and strong blueshifts are seen in an adjacent region. Analysis of the profiles is carried out using a Milne-Eddington inversion code capable of fitting either a single magnetic component with stray light or two independent magnetic components to verify the field strength. The inversion results show that the anomalous profiles cannot be produced by the combination of two profiles with moderate magnetic fields. The largest field strengths are 3500-3800 G in close proximity to blueshifts as strong as 3.8 km s$^{-1}$. The strong, nearly horizontal magnetic field seen near the polarity inversion line in this region is difficult to understand in the context of a standard model of sunspot magnetohydrostatic equilibrium.