Polarized Line Transfer with F-state Interference in a Non-magnetic Medium: Partial Frequency Redistribution Effects in the Collisionless Regime

Abstract

Quantum interference phenomena manifest themselves in several ways in the polarized solar spectrum formed due to coherent scattering processes. One such effect arises due to interference between the fine structure (J) states giving rise to multiplets. Another effect is that which arises due to interference between the hyperfine structure (F) states. We extend the redistribution matrix derived for the J-state interference to the case of F-state interference. We then incorporate it into the polarized radiative transfer equation and solve it for isothermal constant property slab atmospheres. The relevant transfer equation is solved using a polarized approximate lambda iteration (PALI) technique based on operator perturbation. An alternative method derived from the Neumann series expansion is also proposed and is found to be relatively more efficient than the PALI method. The effects of partial frequency redistribution and the F-state interference on the shapes of the linearly polarized Stokes profiles are discussed. The emergent Stokes profiles are computed for hypothetical line transitions arising due to hyperfine structure splitting of the upper J = 3/2 and lower J = 1/2 levels of a two-level atom model with nuclear spin Is = 3/2. We confine our attention to the non-magnetic scattering in the collisionless regime.