Solar Filament Physiognomy: Inferring Magnetic Quantities from Imaging Observations

Solar Filament Physiognomy: Inferring Magnetic Quantities from Imaging Observations | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Systematic Review Solar Filament Physiognomy: Inferring Magnetic Quantities from Imaging Observations P. F. Chen This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7501820/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 01 Dec, 2025 Read the published version in Solar Physics → Version 1 posted 7 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Magnetic field is the key physical quantity in solar physics as it controls all kinds of solar activity, ranging from nanoflares to big flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). However, so far only the magnetic field on the solar surface can be precisely measured, and the most important coronal magnetic field remains undetectable accurately. Without the knowledge of the coronal magnetic field, it is even more difficult to obtain secondary quantities related to magnetic field, such as the curvature of field lines, magnetic helicity, and magnetic configuration. The prevailing approaches to obtain the coronal magnetic field include coronal magnetic extrapolation. Actually there were continued efforts in coronal seismology to derive the primary quantity, magnetic field, and scattered efforts to derive secondary magnetic quantities based on imaging observations of solar filaments, without the help of polarization measurements. We call this approach solar filament physiognomy. In this paper, we review these efforts made in the past decades, and point out that this approach will be promising as large telescopes are being built and more fine structures of filament channels will be disclosed. Prominences Models Helicity Magnetic Magnetic fields Corona Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 01 Dec, 2025 Read the published version in Solar Physics → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 10 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 10 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 25 Sep, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 07 Sep, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 02 Sep, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 01 Sep, 2025 First submitted to journal 31 Aug, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7501820","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Systematic Review","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":511947015,"identity":"f63946da-dec8-4080-9c43-b571676375b5","order_by":0,"name":"P. F. 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