DIFFUSION OF SOLAR MAGNETIC ELEMENTS UP TO SUPERGRANULAR SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL SCALES

The study of spatial and temporal scales on which small magnetic structures (magnetic elements) are organized in the quiet Sun may be approached by determining how they are transported on the solar photosphere by convective motions. The process involved is diffusion. Taking advantage of Hinode high spatial resolution magnetograms of a quiet-Sun region at the disk center, we tracked 20,145 magnetic elements. The large field of view (similar to 50 Mm) and the long duration of the observations (over 25 hr without interruption at a cadence of 90 s) allowed us to investigate the turbulent flows at unprecedented large spatial and temporal scales. In the field of view an entire supergranule is clearly recognizable. The magnetic element displacement spectrum shows a double-regime behavior: superdiffusive (gamma = 1.34 +/- 0.02) up to granular spatial scales (similar to 1500 km) and slightly superdiffusive (gamma = 1.20 +/- 0.05) up to supergranular scales.