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R. Nigam (W.W. Hansen Experimental Physics Lab., Stanford U.)
In this study the role of line asymmetry and phase difference between velocity and intensity helioseismic spectra for understanding the excitation of solar oscillations is discussed. The solar intensity and velocity oscillations are usually observed from variations in an absorption line. These variations consist of two parts: solar oscillation modes and granulation noise. Because the oscillation modes are excited by granulation, we argue that the granulation signal (noise) is partially correlated with the oscillations. The data from the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) instrument on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) have clearly revealed a reversal of asymmetry between velocity and intensity power spectra. We have shown that the cause of reversal in asymmetry between velocity and intensity power spectra is due to the presence of the correlated noise in the intensity data. This noise is also responsible for the high-frequency shift in the two spectra at and above the acoustic cutoff frequency. Our theory also explains the deviation of the observed phase difference between velocity and intensity from that predicted by simple adiabatic theory of solar oscillations. The observed phase, jumps in the vicinity of an eigenfrequency, but theory does not explain such jumps. We studied different types of excitation sources at various depths and found that monopole and quadrupole acoustic sources when placed in the superadiabatic layer (at a depth of 75 km below the photosphere) match the observations. For these source types, the sign of the correlation is negative corresponding to photospheric darkening. Finally, an asymmetric fitting formula is used to determine the eigenfrequencies of solar oscillations by fitting both the velocity and intensity power spectra.
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