MAGNETIC BRIGHT POINTS IN THE QUIET SUN

We present a visual determination of the number of bright points (BPs) existing in the quiet Sun, which are structures though to trace intense kG magnetic concentrations. The measurement is based on a 01 angular resolution G-band movie obtained with the Swedish Solar Telescope at the solar disk center. We find 0.97 BPs Mm?2, which is a factor 3 larger than any previous estimate. It corresponds to 1.2 BPs per solar granule. Depending on the details of the segmentation, the BPs cover between 0.9% and 2.2% of the solar surface. Assuming their field strength to be 1.5 kG, the detected BPs contribute to the solar magnetic flux with an unsigned flux density between 13 G and 33 G. If network and inter-network regions are counted separately, they contain 2.2 BPs Mm?2 and 0.85 BPs Mm?2, respectively.

[1]  E. Hoge.  THE GREAT SUNSPOT GROUP OF MARCH AND APRIL, 1947 , 1947 .

[2]  J. Beckers.  Quiet Photosphere and Chromosphere , 1977 .

[3]  H. Spruit.  Heat flow near obstacles in the solar convection zone , 1977 .

[4]  A. Bruzek,et al.  Illustrated glossary for solar and solar-terrestrial physics , 1977 .

[5]  S. Martin.  The identification and interaction of network, intranetwork, and ephemeral-region magnetic fields , 1988 .

[6]  S. Solanki.  Small-scale solar magnetic fields: An overview , 1993 .

[7]  H. Zirin,et al.  Flux distribution of solar intranetwork magnetic fields , 1995 .

[8]  T. Berger,et al.  Double-Gaussian Models of Bright Points or Why Bright Points Are Usually Dark , 1996 .

[9]  Dynamics of Magnetic Flux Elements in the Solar Photosphere , 1998, astro-ph/9802359.

[10]  Haosheng Lin,et al.  The Granular Magnetic Fields of the Quiet Sun , 1999 .

[11]  F. Cattaneo,et al.  Dynamo Theory and the Origin of Small Scale Magnetic Fields , 1999 .

[12]  J. Almeida,et al.  Physical Properties of the Solar Magnetic Photosphere under the MISMA Hypothesis. II. Network and Internetwork Fields at the Disk Center , 2000 .

[13]  A. Cox,et al.  Allen's astrophysical quantities , 2000 .

[14]  G-Band Spectral Synthesis in Solar Magnetic Concentrations , 2001, astro-ph/0103006.

[15]  L. Milano,et al.  A measurement of the quiet network contribution to solar irradiance variation , 2001 .

[16]  E. Wiehr,et al.  A New Algorithm for Pattern Recognition and its Application to Granulation and Limb Faculae , 2001 .

[17]  Dan Kiselman,et al.  Dark cores in sunspot penumbral filaments , 2002, Nature.

[18]  C. Schrijver,et al.  The Magnetic Connection between the Solar Photosphere and the Corona , 2003 .

[19]  Gottingen,et al.  Quiet-Sun Magnetic Fields at High Spatial Resolution , 2002, astro-ph/0211454.

[20]  A. Asensio Ramos,et al.  A substantial amount of hidden magnetic energy in the quiet Sun , 2004, Nature.

[21]  M. L. Goodman.  On the creation of the chromospheres of solar type stars , 2004 .

[22]  J. Bonet,et al.  Bright Points in the Internetwork Quiet Sun , 2004, astro-ph/0405515.

[23]  Tetsuya Sakurai,et al.  The Solar-B Mission and the Forefront of Solar Physics , 2004 .

[24]  C. Keller,et al.  On the Origin of Solar Faculae , 2004 .

[25]  P. Sutterlin,et al.  DOT tomography of the solar atmosphere. IV. Magnetic patches in internetwork areas , 2005, 0706.2008.

[26]  Mats G. Löfdahl,et al.  Solar Image Restoration By Use Of Multi-frame Blind De-convolution With Multiple Objects And Phase Diversity , 2005 .

[27]  T. Emonet,et al.  Simulations of magneto-convection in the solar photosphere Equations, methods, and results of the MURaM code , 2005 .

[28]  H. Peter,et al.  Link between the chromospheric network and magnetic structures of the corona , 2006, astro-ph/0609280.

[29]  F. Kneer,et al.  The Distribution of Quiet Sun Magnetic Field Strengths from 0 to 1800 G , 2005, astro-ph/0509243.

[30]  S. Tsuneta,et al.  Emergence of Small-Scale Magnetic Loops in the Quiet-Sun Internetwork , 2007, 0708.0844.

[31]  R. Schlichenmaier,et al.  Magnetic properties of G-band bright points in a sunspot moat , 2007, 0707.1232.

[32]  J. C. del Toro Iniesta,et al.  To appear in ApJ Letters Preprint typeset using L ATEX style emulateapj v. 10/09/06 QUIET SUN INTERNETWORK MAGNETIC FIELDS FROM THE INVERSION OF HINODE MEASUREMENTS , 2022 .

[33]  Tenerife,et al.  Search for photospheric footpoints of quiet Sun transition region loops , 2007, 0709.3451.

[34]  B. Bovelet,et al.  Multiple-Scale Pattern Recognition Applied to Faint Intergranular G-band Structures , 2007 .

[35]  M. Schuessler,et al.  A solar surface dynamo , 2007, astro-ph/0702681.

[36]  J. Harvey,et al.  Seething Horizontal Magnetic Fields in the Quiet Solar Photosphere , 2007, astro-ph/0702415.

[37]  N. Weiss,et al.  Convective intensification of magnetic fields in the quiet Sun , 2008, 0804.1238.

[38]  B. Bovelet,et al.  The quiet Sun's magnetic flux estimated from Ca II H bright inter-granular G-band structures , 2008, 1208.2160.

[39]  J. C. del Toro Iniesta,et al.  Sunrise/IMaX OBSERVATIONS OF CONVECTIVELY DRIVEN VORTEX FLOWS IN THE SUN , 2008, 0809.3885.

[40]  T. Berger,et al.  The Horizontal Magnetic Flux of the Quiet-Sun Internetwork as Observed with the Hinode Spectro-Polarimeter , 2008 .

[41]  R. Ishikawa,et al.  Hinode Observations of Magnetic Elements in Internetwork Areas , 2008, 0806.0345.

[42]  A. Asensio Ramos,et al.  EVIDENCE FOR QUASI-ISOTROPIC MAGNETIC FIELDS FROM HINODE QUIET-SUN OBSERVATIONS , 2009, 0906.4230.

[43]  L. B. Rubio,et al.  EMERGENCE OF SMALL-SCALE MAGNETIC LOOPS THROUGH THE QUIET SOLAR ATMOSPHERE , 2009, 0905.2691.

[44]  R. Cameron,et al.  TURBULENT SMALL-SCALE DYNAMO ACTION IN SOLAR SURFACE SIMULATIONS , 2010, 1002.2750.