TEMPORAL EVOLUTION OF THE SCATTERING POLARIZATION OF THE Ca II IR TRIPLET IN HYDRODYNAMICAL MODELS OF THE SOLAR CHROMOSPHERE

Velocity gradients in a stellar atmospheric plasma have an effect on the anisotropy of the radiation field that illuminates each point within the medium, and this may in principle influence the scattering line polarization that results from the induced atomic level polarization. Here, we analyze the emergent linear polarization profiles of the Ca II infrared triplet after solving the radiative transfer problem of scattering polarization in time-dependent hydrodynamical models of the solar chromosphere, taking into account the effect of the plasma macroscopic velocity on the atomic level polarization. We discuss the influence that the velocity and temperature shocks in the considered chromospheric models have on the temporal evolution of the scattering polarization signals of the Ca II infrared lines as well as on the temporally averaged profiles. Our results indicate that the increase of the linear polarization amplitudes caused by macroscopic velocity gradients may be significant in realistic situations. We also study the effect of the integration time, the microturbulent velocity, and the photospheric dynamical conditions, and discuss the feasibility of observing with large-aperture telescopes the temporal variation of the scattering polarization profiles. Finally, we explore the possibility of using a Hanle effect line-ratio technique in the IR triplet of Ca II to facilitate magnetic field diagnostics in dynamic situations.