UVMag: Space UV and visible spectropolarimetry

• Main Authors: Pertenais, Martin, Neiner, Coralie, Pares, Laurent, Petit, Pascal, Snik, Frans, van harten, Gerard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 23-07-2014
• Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors; Physics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics; Physics - Optics; Physics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics; Physics - Space Physics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1406.4378

UVMag is a project of a space mission equipped with a high-resolution
spectropolarimeter working in the UV and visible range. This M-size mission
will be proposed to ESA at its M4 call. The main goal of UVMag is to measure
the magnetic fields, winds and environment of all types of stars to reach a
better understanding of stellar formation and evolution and of the impact of
stellar environment on the surrounding planets. The groundbreaking combination
of UV and visible spectropolarimetric observations will allow the scientists to
study the stellar surface and its environment simultaneously. The instrumental
challenge for this mission is to design a high-resolution space
spectropolarimeter measuring the full-Stokes vector of the observed star in a
huge spectral domain from 117 nm to 870 nm. This spectral range is the main
difficulty because of the dispersion of the optical elements and of
birefringence issues in the FUV. As the instrument will be launched into space,
the polarimetric module has to be robust and therefore use if possible only
static elements. This article presents the different design possibilities for
the polarimeter at this point of the project.