Analysis of the multiple inversion of the circular polarization of sunspot-associated microwave sources

Abstract

Solar observations with a new panoramic spectrum analyzer (PSA) of RATAN-600 showed the multiple inversion of the sense of circular polarization in microwave local sources (LSs). The polarization spectra of LSs are analyzed in terms of the theory of linear coupling of ordinary and extraordinary modes in the quasitransverse (QT) region. We consider the RATAN-600 radio observations of June 2, 1977, January 10, 1992, and May 9 and 10, 1992 for the LS, which demonstrated the inversion of polarization sense in the range 2.0–6.5 cm. The theory of QT propagation imposes a constraint on the degree of polarization of microwaves at wavelengths close to the inversion wavelength. The dependence of the multiple inversion on the wavelength due to multiple crossing of QT regions is verified. The LS polarization spectra are correlated with the spectra calculated for a varied multiplicity to determine more accurately the multiplicity of the inversion.