Asymmetry reversal in solar acoustic modes
Abstract
The power spectra of solar acoustic modes are asymmetric, with velocity having more power on the low frequency side of the peak and intensity having more power on the high frequency side. This effect exists in both observations and simulations, and it is believed to be caused by the correlated background noise. We study the temperature near the solar surface by means of a 3D hydrodynamic simulation of convection with a detailed treatment of radiation. The temperature spectrum at optical depth τ cont = 1 has opposite asymmetry to the velocity spectrum, whereas the temperature measured at a fixed geometrical depth, corresponding to < τ cont> = 1, has the same asymmetry as velocity. We believe that the asymmetry reversal in temperature at τ cont = 1 (and therefore in intensity) occurs partly because of the radiative transfer effects. High temperature sensitivity of the opacity suppresses temperature fluctuations on opposite sides of the mode peaks differently, thus causing the asymmetry reversal.