The Association of Polar Faculae with Polar Magnetic Patches Examined with Hinode Observations

The magnetic properties of the Sun's polar faculae are investigated with spectropolarimetric observations of the north polar region obtained by the Hinode satellite in 2007 September. Polar faculae are embedded in nearly all magnetic patches with fluxes greater than $10^{18}$ Mx, while magnetic patches without polar faculae dominate in the flux range below $10^{18}$ Mx. The faculae are considerably smaller than their parent patches, and single magnetic patches contain single or multiple faculae. The faculae in general have higher intrinsic magnetic field strengths than the surrounding regions within their parent patches. Less than 20% of the total magnetic flux contributed by the large (${\ge}10^{18}$ Mx) concentrations, which are known to be modulated by the solar cycle, is accounted for by the associated polar faculae.