No Arabic abstract
A new fitting methodology is presented which is equally well suited for the estimation of low-, medium-, and high-degree mode parameters from $m$-averaged solar oscillation power spectra of widely differing spectral resolution. This method, which we call the Windowed, MuLTiple-Peak, averaged spectrum, or WMLTP Method, constructs a theoretical profile by convolving the weighted sum of the profiles of the modes appearing in the fitting box with the power spectrum of the window function of the observing run using weights from a leakage matrix that takes into account both observational and physical effects, such as the distortion of modes by solar latitudinal differential rotation. We demonstrate that the WMLTP Method makes substantial improvements in the inferences of the properties of the solar oscillations in comparison with a previous method that employed a single profile to represent each spectral peak. We also present an inversion for the internal solar structure which is based upon 6,366 modes that we have computed using the WMLTP method on the 66-day long 2010 SOHO/MDI Dynamics Run. To improve both the numerical stability and reliability of the inversion we developed a new procedure for the identification and correction of outliers in a frequency data set. We present evidence for a pronounced departure of the sound speed in the outer half of the solar convection zone and in the subsurface shear layer from the radial sound speed profile contained in Model~S of Christensen-Dalsgaard and his collaborators that existed in the rising phase of Solar Cycle~24 during mid-2010.
Space-borne missions CoRoT and Kepler have provided a rich harvest of high-quality photometric data for solar-like pulsators. It is now possible to measure damping rates for hundreds of main-sequence and thousands of red-giant. However, among the seismic parameters, mode damping rates remain poorly understood and thus barely used for inferring the physical properties of stars. Previous approaches to model mode damping rates were based on mixing-length theory or a Reynolds-stress approach to model turbulent convection. While able to grasp the main physics of the problem, those approaches are of little help to provide quantitative estimates as well as a definitive answer on the relative contribution of each physical mechanism. Our aim is thus to assess the ability of 3D hydrodynamical simulations to infer the physical mechanisms responsible for damping of solar-like oscillations. To this end, a solar high-spatial resolution and long-duration hydrodynamical 3D simulation computed with the ANTARES code allows probing the coupling between turbulent convection and the normal modes of the simulated box. Indeed, normal modes of the simulation experience realistic driving and damping in the super-adiabatic layers of the simulation. Therefore, investigating the properties of the normal modes in the simulation provides a unique insight into the mode physics. We demonstrate that such an approach provides constraints on the solar damping rates and is able to disentangle the relative contribution related to the perturbation of the turbulent pressure, the gas pressure, the radiative flux, and the convective flux contributions. Finally, we conclude that using the normal modes of a 3D numerical simulation is possible and is potentially able to unveil the respective role of the different physical mechanisms responsible for mode damping provided the time-duration of the simulation is long enough.
We describe a global parametric model for the observed power spectra of solar oscillations of intermediate and low degree. A physically motivated parameterization is used as a substitute for a direct description of mode excitation and damping as these mechanisms remain poorly understood. The model is targeted at the accurate fitting of power spectra coming from Doppler velocity measurements and uses an adaptive response function that accounts for both the vertical and horizontal components of the velocity field on the solar surface and for possible instrumental and observational distortions. The model is continuous in frequency, can easily be adapted to intensity measurements and extends naturally to the analysis of high-frequency pseudo modes (interference peaks at frequencies above the atmospheric acoustic cutoff).
We compute the p-mode oscillation frequencies and frequency splittings that arise in a two-dimensional model of the Sun that contains toroidal magnetic fields in its interior.
We use precise radial velocity measurements and photometric data to derive the frequency spacing of the p-mode oscillation spectrum of the planet-hosting star Beta Gem. This spacing along with the interferometric radius for this star is used to derive an accurate stellar mass. A long time series of over 60 hours of precise stellar radial velocity measurements of Beta Gem were taken with an iodine absorption cell and the echelle spectrograph mounted on the 2m Alfred Jensch Telescope. Complementary photometric data for this star were also taken with the MOST microsatellite spanning 3.6 d. A Fourier analysis of the radial velocity data reveals the presence of up to 17 significant pulsation modes in the frequency interval 10-250 micro-Hz. Most of these fall on a grid of equally-spaced frequencies having a separation of 7.14 +/- 0.12 micro-Hz. An analysis of 3.6 days of high precision photometry taken with the MOST space telescope shows the presence of up to 16 modes, six of which are consistent with modes found in the spectral (radial velocity) data. This frequency spacing is consistent with high overtone radial pulsations; however, until the pulsation modes are identified we cannot be sure if some of these are nonradial modes or even mixed modes. The radial velocity frequency spacing along with angular diameter measurements of Beta Gem via interferometry results in a stellar mass of M = 1.91 +/- 0.09 solar masses. This value confirms the intermediate mass of the star determined using stellar evolutionary tracks. Beta Gem is confirmed to be an intermediate mass star. Stellar pulsations in giant stars along with interferometric radius measurements can provide accurate determinations of the stellar mass of planet hosting giant stars. These can also be used to calibrate stellar evolutionary tracks.
We have derived the temporal power spectra of the horizontal velocity of the solar photosphere. The data sets for 14 quiet regions observed with the Gband filter of Hinode/SOT are analyzed to measure the temporal fluctuation of the horizontal velocity by using the local correlation tracking (LCT) method. Among the high resolution (~0.2) and seeing-free data sets of Hinode/SOT, we selected the observations whose duration is longer than 70 minutes and cadence is about 30 s. The so-called k-{omega} diagrams of the photospheric horizontal velocity are derived for the first time to investigate the temporal evolution of convection. The power spectra derived from k-omega diagrams typically have a double power law shape bent over at a frequency of 4.7 mHz. The power law index in the high frequency range is -2.4 while the power law index in the low frequency range is -0.6. The root mean square of the horizontal speed is about 1.1 km/s when we use a tracer size of 0.4 in LCT method. Autocorrelation functions of intensity fluctuation, horizontal velocity, and its spatial derivatives are also derived in order to measure the correlation time of the stochastic photospheric motion. Since one of possible energy sources of the coronal heating is the photospheric convection, the power spectra derived in the present study will be of high value to quantitatively justify various coronal heating models.