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Paper: Response Functions for NLTE Lines
Volume: 526, Solar Polarization Workshop 8
Page: 179
Authors: Milić, I.; van Noort, M.
Abstract: Response functions quantify the sensitivity of the emergent polarized spectrum to perturbations in the atmospheric quantities. They are an important diagnostics tool and an essential ingredient of the so-called inversion codes, widely used in solar spectropolarimetry. The computation of response functions for spectral lines formed out of local thermodynamic equilibrium is complicated because of strong spatial and non-linear couplings of the atomic populations. We have recently proposed a novel, analytic approach for the computation of NLTE response functions, and in this short contribution we discuss the possibilities of computing response functions for scattering polarization. We explicitly show the procedure for a two level atom line (normal Zeeman triplet), and discuss the “formation heights” of intensity and scattering polarization for a prototype line.
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