Investigating the magnetic field of the quiet Sun internetwork

Abstract We analyze the magnetism of the quiet Sun internetwork (IN) using high-spatial-resolution data obtained by the spectropolarimeter (SP) of the Solar Optical Telescope aboard the Hinode satellite near the disk center of the Sun. The SP data were inverted using the Stokes Inversion based on Response functions (SIR) inversion code with a single-component atmosphere with depth dependent in the solar photosphere, assuming gradients in physical parameters along the line of sight (LOS). To avoid the effect of noise, only pixels with Stokes U and/or Q signals above 4.5 times the noise level are considered. The inversion results show that the magnetic field of the IN has mainly hG field strength and the inclination distribution is quasi-isotropic at the solar surface. The field strength decreases with height and becomes predominantly horizontal at the upper layers. At the mid photosphere, the distributions of field strength and inclination are consistent with those derived by Milne–Eddington inversion. The mean transverse and longitudinal flux densities are 66 Mx cm−2 and 13 Mx cm−2 at log τ = −1.0; we also study the ratio between the transverse and longitudinal components in the IN region as a function of depth in the photosphere, finding that the ratio is almost 2.7 in the deep layer, increasing to 5.1 in the upper layer. The mean field strength is greater than 100 G in the upper photosphere, which is consistent with the results based on the Hanle effect. We present the LOS velocity probability distribution function for IN at different optical depths, where its distribution is mainly associated with upflow velocities of VLOS = 1.2 and 0.6 km s−1 in the deeper and upper layers, respectively. In addition, there exists a reliable inversion analysis, which is obvious from the comparison between the observed and calculated area asymmetries in both Fe i lines of Hinode SP data.