Explore the vast range of titles available.

The morphology of circular polarization profiles from solar spectropolarimetric observations encodes information about the magnetic field strength, inclination, and line-of-sight velocity gradients. Previous studies used manual methods or unsupervised machine learning (ML) to classify the shapes of circular polarization profiles. We trained a multilayer perceptron comparing classifications with unsupervised ML. The method was tested on quiet Sun data sets from Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST), Hinode, and GREGOR, as well as simulations of granulation and a sunspot. We achieve validation metrics typically close to or above 90%. We also present the first statistical analysis of quiet Sun DKIST/ViSP data using inversions and our supervised classifier. We demonstrate that classifications with unsupervised ML alone can introduce systemic errors that could compromise statistical comparisons. DKIST and Hinode classifications in the quiet Sun are similar, despite our modeling indicating spatial resolution differences should alter the shapes of circular polarization signals. Asymmetrical (symmetrical) profiles are less (more) common in GREGOR than DKIST or Hinode data, consistent with narrower response functions in the 1564.85 nm line. Single-lobed profiles are extremely rare in GREGOR data. In the sunspot simulation, the 630.25 nm line produces “double” profiles in the penumbra, likely a manifestation of magneto-optical effects in horizontal fields; these are rarer in the 1564.85 nm line. We find the 1564.85 nm line detects more reverse polarity magnetic fields in the penumbra, in contradiction to observations. We detect mixed-polarity profiles in nearly one fifth of the penumbra. Supervised ML robustly classifies solar spectropolarimetric data, enabling detailed statistical analyses of magnetic fields.

Understanding the magnetic fields of the Sun is essential for unraveling the underlying mechanisms driving solar activity. Integrating topological data analysis techniques into these investigations can provide valuable insights into the intricate structures of magnetic fields, enhancing our comprehension of solar activity and its implications. In this study, we explore what persistent homology can offer in the analysis of solar magnetograms, with the objective of introducing a novel tool that will serve as the foundation for further studies of magnetic structures at the solar surface. By combining various filtration methods of the persistent homology analysis, we conduct an analysis of solar magnetograms that captures the broad magnetic scene, involving a mixture of positive and negative polarities. This analysis is applied to observations of both quiet-Sun and active regions, taken with the Hinode/Solar Optical Telescope and SDO/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, respectively. Our primary focus is on analyzing the properties of the spatial structures and features of the magnetic fields identified through these techniques. The results show that persistent diagrams can encode the spatial structural complexity of the magnetic flux of active regions by identifying the isolated, connected, and interacting features. They facilitate the classification of active regions based on their morphology and the detection and quantification of interacting structures of opposing polarities, such as δ spots. The small-scale events in the quiet Sun, such as magnetic flux cancellation and emergence, are also revealed in persistent diagrams and can be studied by observing the evolution of the plots and tracking the relevant features.

Small-scale internetwork (IN) magnetic fields are considered to be the main building blocks of quiet Sun magnetism. For this reason, it is crucial to understand how they appear on the solar surface. Here, we employ a high-resolution, high-sensitivity, long-duration Hinode/NFI magnetogram sequence to analyze the appearance modes and spatiotemporal evolution of individual IN magnetic elements inside a supergranular cell at the disk center. From identification of flux patches and magnetofrictional simulations, we show that there are two distinct populations of IN flux concentrations: unipolar and bipolar features. Bipolar features tend to be bigger and stronger than unipolar features. They also live longer and carry more flux per feature. Both types of flux concentrations appear uniformly over the solar surface. However, we argue that bipolar features truly represent the emergence of new flux on the solar surface, while unipolar features seem to be formed by the coalescence of background flux. Magnetic bipoles appear at a faster rate than unipolar features (68 as opposed to 55 Mx cm−2 day−1), and provide about 70% of the total instantaneous IN flux detected in the interior of the supergranule.

Arch-like loop structures filled with million Kelvin hot plasma form the building blocks of the quiet-Sun corona. Both high-resolution observations and magnetoconvection simulations show the ubiquitous presence of magnetic fields on the solar surface on small spatial scales of ∼100 km. However, the question of how exactly these quiet-Sun coronal loops originate from the photosphere and how the magnetic energy from the surface is channeled to heat the overlying atmosphere is a long-standing puzzle. Here we report high-resolution photospheric magnetic field and coronal data acquired during the second science perihelion of Solar Orbiter that reveal a highly dynamic magnetic landscape underlying the observed quiet-Sun corona. We found that coronal loops often connect to surface regions that harbor fleeting weaker, mixed-polarity magnetic field patches structured on small spatial scales, and that coronal disturbances could emerge from these areas. We suggest that weaker magnetic fields with fluxes as low as 1015 Mx and/or those that evolve on timescales less than 5 minutes are crucial to understanding the coronal structuring and dynamics.

Magnetoconvection at the solar surface governs the dynamics in the upper solar atmosphere and sustains the heliosphere. Properties of this fundamental process are poorly described near the solar poles. Here we report the first out-of-ecliptic remote-sensing observations of the south pole of the Sun from a high-latitude campaign of the Solar Orbiter spacecraft, which reveal spatial and temporal evolution of supergranular convective cells. The supergranular cells have spatial scales of 20–40 Mm. From 8 days of observations starting on 2025 March 16, our analysis shows that the magnetic network migrates poleward, on average, at high latitudes (above 60°), with speeds in the range of 10–20 m s−1, depending on the structures being tracked. These results shed light on the buildup of the polar magnetic field that is central to our understanding of the solar cycle and the heliospheric magnetic field.

Direct remote-sensing observations of the solar poles have been hindered by the restricted view obtained from the ecliptic plane. For the first time ever, Solar Orbiter with its remote-sensing instruments observed the poles of the Sun from out of the ecliptic in the spring of 2025. Here, we report the first measurements of the magnetic field of the solar poles taken when Solar Orbiter was at heliographic latitudes ranging between 14 .° 9 and 16 .° 7. The data sets were collected by the High Resolution Telescope of the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager on board Solar Orbiter (SO/PHI-HRT). Two sets of observations, approximately one month apart, for the south and north pole are considered in this work. The magnetic flux and flux density measured during these campaigns are reported as a function of the heliographic latitude observed by SO/PHI-HRT. The net fluxes show a different latitudinal distribution for the two polar caps. We also discuss the observed dependence of the measured fluxes on the viewing angle. These first results highlight the importance of high-resolution direct measurements of the polar field, paving the way for the high-latitude observations planned for SO/PHI-HRT in the coming years.

Our knowledge about the solar chromosphere and transition region (TR) has increased in the last decade thanks to the huge scientific return of space-borne observatories like SDO, IRIS, and Hinode, and suborbital rocket experiments like CLASP1, CLASP2, and Hi-C. However, the magnetic nature of those solar regions remain barely explored. The chromosphere and TR of the Sun harbor weak fields and are in a low ionization stage both having critical effects on their thermodynamic behavior. Relatively cold gas structures, such as spicules and prominences, are located in these two regions and display a dynamic evolution in high-resolution observations that static and instantaneous 3D-magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models are not able to reproduce. The role of the chromosphere and TR as the necessary path to a (largely unexplained) very hot corona calls for the generation of observationally based, time-dependent models of these two layers that include essential, up to now disregarded, ingredients in the modeling such as the vector magnetic field. We believe that the community is convinced that the origin of both the heat and kinetic energy observed in the upper layers of the solar atmosphere is of magnetic origin, but reliable magnetic field measurements are missing. The access to sensitive polarimetric measurements in the ultraviolet wavelengths has been elusive until recently due to limitations in the available technology. We propose a low-risk and high-Technology Readiness Level (TRL) mission to explore the magnetism and dynamics of the solar chromosphere and TR. The mission baseline is a low-Earth, Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude between 600 and 800 km. The proposed scientific payload consists of a 30 cm aperture telescope with a spectropolarimeter covering the hydrogen Ly-alpha and the Mg II h&k ultraviolet lines. The instrument shall record high-cadence, full spectropolarimetric observations of the solar upper atmosphere. Besides the answers to a fundamental solar problem the mission has a broader scientific return. For example, the time-dependent modeling of the chromospheres of stars harboring exoplanets is fundamental for estimating the planetary radiation environment. The mission is based on technologies that are mature enough for space and will provide scientific measurements that are not available by other means.

Phase diversity techniques are widely employed in solar astronomy to evaluate and correct the aberrations stemming from atmospheric turbulences, the telescope, and its instruments. The method uses information provided by a pair of images. One of them is usually focused while the other one is defocused. The amount of defocus to be induced is somehow arbitrary, though. In this work we carry out a series of numerical experiments with artificial solar images to investigate the performance of phase diversity for different choices of the relative defocus among the two images. The experiments allow us to determine the amount of defocus that produces the best wave front restoration when changing: (1) the number of Zernike polynomials of the retrieved and/or incident wave fronts; (2) the signal-to-noise ratio of the images; (3) the amplitude of the incident aberrations; and (4) the observed scene. We find a correlation between the amount of defocus needed for optimal restorations and the number of Zernike polynomials employed in the optimization. Values larger than the typically accepted choice of 1λ (peak to peak) are obtained in most cases.

Phase diversity techniques are usually based on the comparison of synchronously acquired pairs of focused–defocused images. This way, differences between both images are avoided except from random pixel variations due to noise on the detector and the phase diversity itself. In some astronomical instruments, though, the two images are not taken simultaneously. This work studies the impact of carrying out phase diversity with pairs of asynchronously acquired images while observing an evolving solar scene. We evaluate the performance of this technique as a function of the time gap between the images through the use of a magnetohydrodynamical simulation of the solar scene as observed by an instrument. We describe the incident wave front with two numbers of Zernike polynomials (20 or 32) to explore their effect on the wave front sensing accuracy and we employ two levels of noise to study their impact in the object restoration. We find that a time gap among our simulation images smaller than ∼10 s has a negligible impact on the performance of the method. The rms error of the Zernike coefficients fitting worsens exponentially from there on, but the evolution is similar no matter the number of polynomials used in the fitting. Meanwhile, the quality of the object restoration benefits from lower noise levels, but it decreases linearly with the time gap independently of the amount of noise.

During the last decades, the use of Fabry-Pérot etalons as filtergraphs has become frequent in solar instruments. The main reason is that they stand out for offering quasi-monochromatic, two-dimensional fields of view much higher than those provided by conventional slit-based spectrographs in a given time interval. Unfortunately, they also present several drawbacks. The number of etalons employed, the chosen way to illuminate them and the material they are made of have a large influence on the performance of the instrument. In this work we review and discuss the main results obtained by some of the most relevant studies in the design of etalon-based instruments. We present the general properties of etalons and their particularities when employed in solar instruments. We examine the (common) use of systems of several etalons to increase the free spectral range and to narrow down the filter transmission width. We compare the advantages and drawbacks of the two most common configurations —collimated and telecentric— paying special attention to their limitations. Finally, we also inspect the properties of crystalline etalons and their use in solar astronomy.