Characterization of magnetic flux in the quiet Sun

Observations of the quiet Sun observed with the Advanced Stokes Polarimeter are used to explore the distribution of apparent flux density (B-app) and size scales of internetwork regions. For a typical disk-center quiet-Sun observation with excellent seeing ( at a quanti able angular resolution of 1 00), average \B-app\ of 18.6 and 10.7 Mx cm(-2) are found for the entire quiet region map and the internetwork region (2 sigma noise < vertical bar B-app vertical bar < 40 Mx cm(-2)), respectively. The weak internetwork flux appears to consist of two components: the spatially concentrated granular internetwork fields and a more diffuse, weaker component that has a characteristic size scale of a few arcseconds. Most of the internetwork area is occupied by measurable fields: 69% of the area has apparent flux density greater than 4.5 Mx cm(-2) (3 sigma), or 84% with flux density greater than 3.0 Mx cm(-2) (2 sigma). If the results of Hanle depolarization measurements are accepted, the internetwork flux detected here must be close (within a factor of 2-3) to being spatially resolved and must be intrinsically weak (10-30 G). Examination of Stokes polarimetry in quiet regions away from disk center indicates that the central cores of network flux, as indicated by high-polarization signals, do not have a high degree of mixed polarity. In contrast, regions immediately surrounding the network elements have stronger linear polarization than would be expected from locally vertical fields, indicating a high degree of mixed polarity. This mixed polarity may be the result of the continual sweeping of mixed polarity internetwork flux toward the network boundaries. When a quiet region has a significant imbalance of flux of opposite polarities, the internetwork imbalance is of the same sign and typically 1/3 that of the network. The smaller imbalance in the internetwork suggests that a local dynamo produces most of the internetwork flux.