Are solar chromospheric fibrils tracing the magnetic field?

de la Cruz Rodríguez, J.; Socas-Navarro, H.
Bibliographical reference

Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 527, id.L8

Advertised on:
3
2011
Number of authors
2
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
68
Refereed citations
58
Description
Fibrils are thin elongated features visible in the solar chromosphere in and around magnetized regions. Because of their visual appearance, they have been traditionally considered a tracer of the magnetic field lines. For the first time, we challenge that notion by comparing their orientation to that of the magnetic field, obtained via high-resolution spectropolarimetric observations of Ca ii lines. The short answer to the question posed in the title is that mostly yes, but not always.
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