1,532 research outputs found
Comparison of acoustic travel-time measurement of solar meridional circulation from SDO/HMI and SOHO/MDI
Time-distance helioseismology is one of the primary tools for studying the
solar meridional circulation. However, travel-time measurements of the
subsurface meridional flow suffer from a variety of systematic errors, such as
a center-to-limb variation and an offset due to the P-angle uncertainty of
solar images. Here we apply the time-distance technique to contemporaneous
medium-degree Dopplergrams produced by SOHO/MDI and SDO/HMI to obtain the
travel-time difference caused by meridional circulation throughout the solar
convection zone. The P-angle offset in MDI images is measured by
cross-correlating MDI and HMI images. The travel-time measurements in the
south-north and east-west directions are averaged over the same observation
period for the two data sets and then compared to examine the consistency of
MDI and HMI travel times after correcting the systematic errors.
The offsets in the south-north travel-time difference from MDI data induced
by the P-angle error gradually diminish with increasing travel distance.
However, these offsets become noisy for travel distances corresponding to waves
that reach the base of the convection zone. This suggests that a careful
treatment of the P-angle problem is required when studying a deep meridional
flow. After correcting the P-angle and the removal of the center-to-limb
effect, the travel-time measurements from MDI and HMI are consistent within the
error bars for meridional circulation covering the entire convection zone. The
fluctuations observed in both data sets are highly correlated and thus indicate
their solar origin rather than an instrumental origin. Although our results
demonstrate that the ad hoc correction is capable of reducing the wide
discrepancy in the travel-time measurements from MDI and HMI, we cannot exclude
the possibility that there exist other systematic effects acting on the two
data sets in the same way.Comment: accepted for publication in A&
On The Determination of MDI High-Degree Mode Frequencies
The characteristic of the solar acoustic spectrum is such that mode lifetimes
get shorter and spatial leaks get closer in frequency as the degree of a mode
increases for a given order. A direct consequence of this property is that
individual p-modes are only resolved at low and intermediate degrees, and that
at high degrees, individual modes blend into ridges. Once modes have blended
into ridges, the power distribution of the ridge defines the ridge central
frequency and it will mask the true underlying mode frequency. An accurate
model of the amplitude of the peaks that contribute to the ridge power
distribution is needed to recover the underlying mode frequency from fitting
the ridge.
We present the results of fitting high degree power ridges (up to l = 900)
computed from several two to three-month-long time-series of full-disk
observations taken with the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) on-board the Solar
and Heliospheric Observatory between 1996 and 1999.
We also present a detailed discussion of the modeling of the ridge power
distribution, and the contribution of the various observational and
instrumental effects on the spatial leakage, in the context of the MDI
instrument. We have constructed a physically motivated model (rather than some
ad hoc correction scheme) resulting in a methodology that can produce an
unbiased determination of high-degree modes, once the instrumental
characteristics are well understood.
Finally, we present changes in high degree mode parameters with epoch and
thus solar activity level and discuss their significance.Comment: 59 pages, 38 figures -- High-resolution version at
http://www-sgk.harvard.edu:1080/~sylvain/preprints/ -- Manuscript submitted
to Ap
Global-scale equatorial Rossby waves as an essential component of solar internal dynamics
The Sun's complex dynamics is controlled by buoyancy and rotation in the
convection zone and by magnetic forces in the atmosphere and corona. While
small-scale solar convection is well understood, the dynamics of large-scale
flows in the solar convection zone is not explained by theory or simulations.
Waves of vorticity due to the Coriolis force, known as Rossby waves, are
expected to remove energy out of convection at the largest scales. Here we
unambiguously detect and characterize retrograde-propagating vorticity waves in
the shallow subsurface layers of the Sun at angular wavenumbers below fifteen,
with the dispersion relation of textbook sectoral Rossby waves. The waves have
lifetimes of several months, well-defined mode frequencies below 200 nHz in a
co-rotating frame, and eigenfunctions of vorticity that peak at the equator.
Rossby waves have nearly as much vorticity as the convection at the same
scales, thus they are an essential component of solar dynamics. We find a
transition from turbulence-like to wave-like dynamics around the Rhines scale
of angular wavenumber of twenty; this might provide an explanation for the
puzzling deficit of kinetic energy at the largest spatial scales.Comment: This is the submitted version of the paper published in Nature
Astronomy. 23 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl
Prospects for the Detection of the Deep Solar Meridional Circulation
We perform helioseismic holography to assess the noise in p-mode travel-time
shifts which would form the basis of inferences of large-scale flows throughout
the solar convection zone. We also derive the expected travel times from a
parameterized return (equatorward) flow component of the meridional circulation
at the base of the convection zone from forward models under the assumption of
the ray and Born approximations. From estimates of the signal-to-noise ratio
for measurements focused near the base of the convection zone, we conclude that
the helioseismic detection of the deep meridional flow including the return
component may not be possible using data spanning an interval less than a solar
cycle
Does the Sun Shrink with Increasing Magnetic Activity?
We have analyzed the full set of SOHO/MDI f- and p-mode oscillation
frequencies from 1996 to date in a search for evidence of solar radius
evolution during the rising phase of the current activity cycle. Like Antia et
al. (2000), we find that a significant fraction of the f-mode frequency changes
scale with frequency; and that if these are interpreted in terms of a radius
change, it implies a shrinking sun. Our inferred rate of shrinkage is about 1.5
km/y, which is somewhat smaller than found by Antia et al. We argue that this
rate does not refer to the surface, but rather to a layer extending roughly
from 4 to 8 Mm beneath the visible surface. The rate of shrinking may be
accounted for by an increasing radial component of the rms random magnetic
field at a rate that depends on its radial distribution. If it were uniform,
the required field would be ~7 kG. However, if it were inwardly increasing,
then a 1 kG field at 8 Mm would suffice.
To assess contribution to the solar radius change arising above 4Mm, we
analyzed the p-mode data. The evolution of the p-mode frequencies may be
explained by a magnetic^M field growing with activity. The implications of the
near-surface magnetic field changes depend on the anisotropy of the random
magnetic field. If the field change is predominantly radial, then we infer an
additional shrinking at a rate between 1.1-1.3 km/y at the photosphere. If on
the other hand the increase is isotropic, we find a competing expansion at a
rate of 2.3 km/y. In any case, variations in the sun's radius in the activity
cycle are at the level of 10^{-5} or less, hence have a negligible contribution
to the irradiance variations.Comment: 10 pages (ApJ preprint style), 4 figures; accepted for publication in
Ap
Effects of Uniform and Differential Rotation on Stellar Pulsations
We have investigated the effects of uniform rotation and a specific model for
differential rotation on the pulsation frequencies of 10 \Msun\ stellar models.
Uniform rotation decreases the frequencies for all modes. Differential rotation
does not appear to have a significant effect on the frequencies, except for the
most extreme differentially rotating models. In all cases, the large and small
separations show the effects of rotation at lower velocities than do the
individual frequencies. Unfortunately, to a certain extent, differential
rotation mimics the effects o f more rapid rotation, and only the presence of
some specific observed frequencies with well identified modes will be able to
uniquely constrain the internal rotation of pulsating stars.Comment: 33 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
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