Solar p and g modes in a model with a convection layer above a sub-adiabatic interior

We study high-order acoustic modes which reside in the outer layers of the solar interior. Magnetic field effects are not taken into account in this paper as we wish first to filter out how the modal frequencies depend on physical characteristics of a particular model structure of the Sun. In particular, we are interested in how the modal frequencies of solar global oscillations depend on the thickness of the convection layer and on the temperature gradient of the solar interior below. The model we use consists of three planar layers: an isothermal atmosphere, while the convection layer and the interior have temperature gradients that are adiabatic and sub-adiabatic, respectively. The presence of a convection layer with a finite thickness brings in additional modes while the variations in temperature gradient of the interior cause shifts in eigenfrequencies that are more pronounced for the p modes than for the g modes. These shifts can easily be of the order of several hundreds of Hz, which is much larger than the observational accuracy.     

Influence of a uniform coronal magnetic field on solar p modes: coupling to slow resonant MHD waves

The influence of a constant coronal magnetic field on solar global oscillations is investigated for a simple planar equilibrium model. The model consists of an atmosphere with a constant horizontal magnetic field and a constant sound speed, on top of an adiabatic interior having a linear temperature profile. The focus is on the possible resonant coupling of global solar oscillation modes to local slow continuum modes of the atmosphere and the consequent damping of the global oscillations. In order to avoid Alfvén resonances, the analysis is restricted to propagation parallel to the coronal magnetic field. Parallel propagating oscillation modes in this equilibrium model have already been studied by Evans and Roberts (1990). However, they avoided the resonant coupling to slow continuum modes by a special choice of the temperature profile. The physical process of resonant absorption of the acoustic modes with frequency in the cusp continuum is mathematically completely described by the ideal MHD differential equations which for this particular equilibrium model reduce to the hypergeometric differential equation. The resonant layer is correctly dealt with in ideal MHD by a proper treatment of the logarithmical branch cut of the hypergeometric function. The result of the resonant coupling with cusp waves is twofold. The eigenfrequencies become complex and the real part of the frequency is shifted. The shift of the real part of the frequency is not negligible and within the limit of observational accuracy. This indicates that resonant interactions should definitely be taken into account when calculating the frequencies of the global solar oscillations.     

The Sidc: World Data Center for the Sunspot Index

Since January 1981, the Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB) has operated the Sunspot Index Data Center (SIDC), the World Data Center for the Sunspot Index. From 2000, the SIDC obtained the status of Regional Warning Center (RWC) of the International Space Environment Service (ISES) and became the “Solar Influences Data analysis Center”. As a data analysis service of the Federation of Astronomical and Geophysical data analysis Services (FAGS), the SIDC collects monthly observations from worldwide stations in order to calculate the International Sunspot Number, R _i . The center broadcasts the daily, monthly, yearly sunspot numbers, with middle-range predictions (up to 12 months). Since August 1992, hemispheric sunspot numbers are also provided. Deceased.     

Influence of temperature profile on solar acoustic modes

Solar global acoustic oscillations in a multilayer model of the solar atmosphere are studied in the plane-parallel geometry. Calculated frequencies of acoustic modes of the Sun are found to depend on parameters of the temperature profile used in the model. Larger influence on frequencies comes from values of the temperature gradient in the convection zone, and less influence from values of the thickness L of the transitional layer and from values of the ratio Tc/Tp of the coronal and the photospheric temperature, Tc and Tp, respectively. The uncertainties in determining these parameters can easily yield frequency shifts that are larger than the observational accuracy. This then indicates a possibility for a diagnostics of solar plasma based on known values of observed oscillation frequencies.     

Influence of a chromospheric magnetic field on solar acoustic modes

This paper studies the effect of a magnetic atmosphere on the global solar acoustic oscillations in a simple Cartesian model. First, the influence of the ratio of the coronal and the photospheric temperature τ and the strength of the magnetic field at the base of the corona B_c on the oscillation modes is studied for a convection zone-corona model with a true discontinuity. The ratio τ seems to be an important parameter. Subsequently, the discontinuity is replaced by an intermediate chromospheric layer of thickness L and the effect of the thickness on the frequencies of the acoustic waves is studied. In addition, nonuniformity in the magnetic field, plasma density and temperature in the transition layer gives rise to continuous Alfvén and slow spectra. Modes with characteristic frequencies lying within the range of the continuum may resonantly couple to Alfvén and/or slow waves.