No Arabic abstract
The observed power spectrum of high-degree solar p-modes (l>200) shows discrepancies with the power spectrum predicted by the stochastic excitement and damping theory. In an attempt to explain these discrepancies, the present paper is concerned with the influence of the observed subsurface flows on the trapped acoustic modes (p-modes). The effect of these inhomogeneous background flows is investigated by means of a non-modal analysis and a multi-layer model. It is shown that the rotational and meridional components of the velocity field change the wavelengths of the oscillation modes which, in turn, results in modifications of the corresponding modal frequencies. The magnitudes of the frequency residuals depend on the spatial scales of the modes and on the gradients of the different components of the flow velocity. Together with other mechanisms (e.g. the scattering of modes by the large scale convection (Goldreich & Murray 1994), the non-modal effect of the variation of the frequencies in time may contribute: 1) to the observed widening of the corresponding peaks in the observed power spectrum with increasing angular degree; 2) to the partial dissipation of spectral power, and, as a result, 3) to the discrepancies between the predicted and the observed power spectrum of solar p-modes.
The solar rotation profile is well constrained down to about 0.25 R thanks to the study of acoustic modes. Since the radius of the inner turning point of a resonant acoustic mode is inversely proportional to the ratio of its frequency to its degree, only the low-degree p modes reach the core. The higher the order of these modes, the deeper they penetrate into the Sun and thus they carry more diagnostic information on the inner regions. Unfortunately, the estimates of frequency splittings at high frequency from Sun-as-a-star measurements have higher observational errors due to mode blending, resulting in weaker constraints on the rotation profile in the inner core. Therefore
Various models of solar subsurface stratification are tested in the global EULAG-MHD solver to simulate diverse regimes of near-surface convective transport. Sub- and superadiabacity are altered at the surface of the model ($ r > 0.95~R_{odot}$) to either suppress or enhance convective flow speeds in an effort to investigate the impact of the near-surface layer on global dynamics. A major consequence of increasing surface convection rates appears to be a significant alteration of the distribution of angular momentum, especially below the tachocline where the rotational frequency predominantly increases at higher latitudes. These hydrodynamic changes correspond to large shifts in the development of the current helicity in this stable layer ($r<0.72R_{odot}$), significantly altering its impact on the generation of poloidal and toroidal fields at the tachocline and below, acting as a major contributor towards transitions in the dynamo cycle. The enhanced near-surface flow speed manifests in a global shift of the toroidal field ($B_{phi}$) in the butterfly diagram - from a North-South symmetric pattern to a staggered anti-symmetric emergence.
Turbulent motions in stellar convection zones generate acoustic energy, part of which is then supplied to normal modes of the star. Their amplitudes result from a balance between the efficiencies of excitation and damping processes in the convection zones. We develop a formalism that provides the excitation rates of non-radial global modes excited by turbulent convection. As a first application, we estimate the impact of non-radial effects on excitation rates and amplitudes of high-angular-degree modes which are observed on the Sun. A model of stochastic excitation by turbulent convection has been developed to compute the excitation rates, and it has been successfully applied to solar radial modes (Samadi & Goupil 2001, Belkacem et al. 2006b). We generalize this approach to the case of non-radial global modes. This enables us to estimate the energy supplied to high-($ell$) acoustic modes. Qualitative arguments as well as numerical calculations are used to illustrate the results. We find that non-radial effects for $p$ modes are non-negligible: - for high-$n$ modes (i.e. typically $n > 3$) and for high values of $ell$; the power supplied to the oscillations depends on the mode inertia. - for low-$n$ modes, independent of the value of $ell$, the excitation is dominated by the non-diagonal components of the Reynolds stress term. We carried out a numerical investigation of high-$ell$ $p$ modes and we find that the validity of the present formalism is limited to $ell < 500$ due to the spatial separation of scale assumption. Thus, a model for very high-$ell$ $p$-mode excitation rates calls for further theoretical developments, however the formalism is valid for solar $g$ modes, which will be investigated in a paper in preparation.
The pattern of migrating zonal flow bands associated with the solar cycle, known as the torsional oscillation, has been monitored with continuous global helioseismic observations by the Global Oscillations Network Group, together with those made by the Michelson Doppler Imager onboard the Solar and Heliosepheric Observatory and its successor the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory, since 1995, giving us nearly two full solar cycles of observations. We report that the flows now show traces of the mid-latitude acceleration that is expected to become the main equatorward-moving branch of the zonal flow pattern for Cycle 25. Based on the current position of this branch, we speculate that the onset of widespread activity for Cycle 25 is unlikely to be earlier than the middle of 2019.
Several works have reported changes of the Suns subsurface stratification inferred from f-mode or p-mode observations. Recently a non-homologous variation of the subsurface layers with depth and time has been deduced from f-modes. Progress on this important transition zone between the solar interior and the external part supposes a good understanding of the interplay between the different processes which contribute to this variation. This paper is the first of a series where we aim to study these layers from the theoretical point of view. For this first paper, we use solar models obtained with the CESAM code, in its classical form, and analyze the properties of the computed theoretical f-modes. We examine how a pure variation in the calibrated radius influences the subsurface structure and we show also the impact of an additional change of composition on the same layers. Then we use an inversion procedure to quantify the corresponding f-mode variation and their capacity to infer the radius variation. We deduce an estimate of the amplitude of the 11-year cyclic photospheric radius variation.