Bibcode
Lites, Bruce; Socas-Navarro, Hector; Kubo, Masahito; Berger, Thomas; Frank, Zoe; Shine, Richard A.; Tarbell, Theodore D.; Title, Alan M.; Ichimoto, Kiyoshi; Katsukawa, Yukio; Tsuneta, Saku; Suematsu, Yoshinori; Shimizu, Toshifumi
Bibliographical reference
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, Vol.59, No.SP3, pp.S571--S576
Advertised on:
11
2007
Citations
59
Refereed citations
44
Description
We present observations of magnetic fields of the very quiet Sun near
disk center using the Spectro-Polarimeter of the Solar Optical Telescope
aboard the Hinode satellite. These observations reveal for the first
time the ubiquitous presence of horizontal magnetic fields in the
internetwork regions. The horizontal fields are spatially distinct from
the vertical fields, demonstrating that they are not arising mainly from
buffeting of vertical flux tubes by the granular convection. The
horizontal component has an average ``apparent flux density'' of
55Mxcm-2 (assuming the horizontal field structures are
spatially resolved), in contrast to the average apparent vertical flux
density of 11Mxcm-2. The vertical fields reside mainly in the
intergranular lanes, whereas the horizontal fields occur mainly over the
bright granules, with a preference to be near the outside edge of the
bright granules. The large apparent imbalance of vertical and horizontal
flux densities is discussed, and several scenarios are presented to
explain this imbalance.