Rasmus Larsen

Evolving Submerged Meridional Circulation Cells within the Upper Convection Zone Revealed by Ring-Diagram Analysis

Using the local helioseismic technique of ring-diagram analysis applied to Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) Dynamics Program data from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, we have discovered that the meridional flow within the upper convection zone can develop additional circulation cells whose boundaries wander in latitude and depth as the solar cycle progresses. We report on the large-scale meridional and zonal flows that we observe from 1996 to 2001. In particular, we discuss the appearance and evolution of a submerged meridional cell during the years 1998-2001, which arose in the northern hemisphere and disrupted the orderly poleward flow and symmetry about the equator that is typically observed. The meridional flows in the southern and northern hemispheres exhibit striking asymmetry during the past four years of the advancing solar cycle. Such asymmetry and additional circulation cells should have profound impact on the transport of angular momentum and magnetic field within the surface layers. These flows may have a significant role in the establishment and maintenance of the near-surface rotational shear layer.

A Comparison of Solar p-Mode Parameters from the Michelson Doppler Imager and the Global Oscillation Network Group: Splitting Coefficients and Rotation Inversions

Using contemporaneous helioseismic data from the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) and Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) onboard SOHO, we compare frequency-splitting data and resulting inversions about the Suns internal rotation. Helioseismology has been very successful in making detailed and subtle inferences about the solar interior. But there are some significant differences between inversion results obtained from the MDI and GONG projects. It is important for making robust inferences about the solar interior that these differences are located and their causes eliminated. By applying the different analysis pipelines developed by the projects not only to their own data but also to the data from the other project, we conclude that the most significant differences arise not from the observations themselves but from the different frequency estimation analyses used by the projects. We find that the GONG pipeline results in substantially fewer fitted modes in certain regions. The most serious systematic differences in the results, with regard to rotation, appear to be an anomaly in the MDI odd-order splitting coefficients around a frequency of 3.5 mHz and an underestimation of the low-degree rotational splittings in the GONG algorithm.

Computational acoustics in spherical geometry : Steps toward validating helioseismology

Throughout the past decade, detailed helioseismic analyses of observations of solar surface oscillations have led to advances in our knowledge of the structure and dynamics of the solar interior. Such analyses involve the decomposition of time series of the observed surface oscillation pattern into its constituent wave modes, followed by inversion procedures that yield inferences of properties of the solar interior. While this inverse problem has been a major focus in recent years, the corresponding forward problem has received much less attention. We aim to rectify this situation by taking the first steps toward validating and determining the efficacy of the helioseismic measurement procedure. The goal of this effort is to design a means to perform differential studies of various effects such as flows and thermal perturbations on helioseismic observables such as resonant frequencies, travel-time shifts, etc. Here we describe our first efforts to simulate wave propagation within a spherical shell, which extends from 0.2 to about 1.0004 R☉ (where R☉ is the radius of the Sun) and which possesses a solar-like stratification. We consider a model containing no flows that will serve as a reference model for later studies. We discuss the computational procedure, some difficulties encountered in a simulation of this kind, and the means to overcome them. We also present techniques used to validate the simulation.

Solar convection zone dynamics : How sensitive are inversions to subtle dynamo features?

The nearly 10 year span of medium-degree helioseismic data from the Global Oscillation Network Group and the Michelson Doppler Imager has allowed us to study the evolving flows in the solar convection zone over most of solar cycle 23. Using two independent two-dimensional rotation inversion techniques and extensive studies of the resolution using artificial data from different assumed flow profiles, including those generated from sample mean field dynamo models, we attempt to assess the reality of certain features seen in the inferred rotation profiles. Our results suggest that the findings from observations of a substantial depth dependence of the phase of the zonal flow pattern in the low latitudes, and the penetration of the flows deep into the convection zone, are likely to be real rather than artifacts of the inversion process.

Exclusion and Inclusion Regions for the Eigenvalues of a Normal Matrix

Assume

On Generating Discrete Orthogonal Bivariate Polynomials

N\in {\mathbb C}^{n \times n}

Time Variability of Rotation in Solar Convection Zone From SOI-MDI

is a square matrix with the characteristic polynomial p(z)=f(x,y)+ig(x,y). Viewing the spectrum

Dynamic variations at the base of the solar convection zone

\sigma(N)

Deeply Penetrating Banded Zonal Flows in the Solar Convection Zone

of

Time Variability of Rotation in Solar Convection Zone From soi-mdi

N