M. Oliviero

How Well Can We Infer the Properties of the Solar Acoustic Sources

Measurements of the p-mode line asymmetry in the solar oscillation velocity power spectrum have been used on several occasions to infer the properties of the acoustic sources. These inferences are based on the assumption that, unlike the observed intensity signal, the velocity signal does not contain a nonresonant (background) component that is correlated with the p-mode signal. Line asymmetry measurements have also been used to draw inferences on the nature of the correlated background signal that is present in intensity observations. By simultaneously modeling the observed velocity and intensity power spectra and the intensity-velocity cross spectrum, we enforce strict observational constraints on the properties of the fitting model. We find that in order to accurately describe the observed data, we have to include a correlated background component in both our models for the V and I signals at low frequencies. Our results also show that we cannot uniquely determine the acoustic source depth for low-frequency waves or the detailed properties of the correlated background signals. It appears that further physical and/or observational constraints are needed before we can obtain this information.

The use of RPC in the ARGO-YBJ project

We present the ARGO-YBJ experiment, a full coverage detector placed at high altitude (∼4300 m a.s.l.) that exploits the RPC technique. Results of a test experiment performed at Yanbajing site, with a full coverage RPC carpet of 50 m2 are also presented.

The intensity effect in magneto-optical filters

We used a laser system for determining the bandpasses of the two vapour cells, the Magneto-Optical Filter (MOF) and the Wing Selector (WS), which are the core of solar narrow-band filters based on the MOF technology. A new result, which we called the Intensity Effect, was found: the MOF and WS bandpasses depend not only on the temperature at which the cell is heated and the external magnetic field in which the cell is embedded, but also on the radiation intensity entering the cell. A theoretical interpretation of the Intensity Effect is proposed in terms of the kinetic equilibrium of the potassium atomic populations inside the vapour cell. We need to take the Intensity Effect into account for setting-up MOF based instruments for solar and stellar observations as well as for modelling the MOF and WS spectral transmissions.