Dynamics of solar magnetic elements

We present observational results that demonstrate a strong increase in the dynamic behavior of magnetic elements at the solar photosphere, when observ ed at high spatial and tem poral resolution. The HAO/NSO Advanced Stokes Po larimeter was used to obtain an extensive set of high resolution Stokes-V s pectra from network, intranetwork and active region magnetic fields at a lo w noise level. We performed a statistical analysis of Doppler shifts and as ymmetries of the V spectra of FeI 630.15 and 630.25 nm to obtain informatio n on the dynamics of magnetic elements of different sizes. The spatial reso lution of 0.8-1 arcsec in combination with high polarimetric precision allo wed us to investigate Stokes-V spectra of magnetic elements down to a size of approximate to 150 km. The Doppler velocity within magnetic elements as well as the amplitude and area asymmetries of the Stokes-V profiles show a strong dependence on the size of the magnetic elements as well as on the gr anular velocity in their vicinity. Applying an absolute velocity calibratio n we find that the smallest magnetic features have velocities of up to 5 km s(-1) in both up- and downflows whereas for larger elements or clusters of several flux tubes the velocities become smaller and more uniform. The V-p rofile asymmetries are larger (both positive and negative) for small fill f raction than for higher fill fraction within the resolution element. Averag ed over all individual profiles, there remains a positive amplitude and are a asymmetry and a downflow exceeding 0.5 km s(-1). The properties of spatia lly and temporally integrated V profiles are consistent with results from F TS-observations. Our observations are in qualitative agreement with results from numerical MHD simulations.