Detection of large acoustic energy flux in the solar atmosphere
arXiv:1009.4795 · doi:10.1088/2041-8205/723/2/L134
Abstract
We study the energy flux carried by acoustic waves excited by convective motions at sub-photospheric levels. The analysis of high-resolution spectropolarimetric data taken with IMaX/Sunrise provides a total energy flux of ~ 6400--7700 Wm at a height of ~ 250 km in the 5.2-10 mHz range, i.e. at least twice the largest energy flux found in previous works. Our estimate lies within a factor of 2 of the energy flux needed to balance radiative losses from the chromosphere according to Anderson & Athay (1989) and revives interest in acoustic waves for transporting energy to the chromosphere. The acoustic flux is mainly found in the intergranular lanes but also in small rapidly-evolving granules and at the bright borders, forming dark dots and lanes of splitting granules.
Accepted on ApJ Letters as part of the special Sunrise issue
References in corpus (3)
Cited by in corpus (45)
- Sunrise: instrument, mission, data and first results
- Multiwavelength studies of MHD waves in the solar chromosphere: An overview of recent results
- The Properties of the Solar Corona and Its Connection to the Solar Wind
- The second flight of the SUNRISE balloon-borne solar observatory: overview of instrument updates, the flight, the data and first results
- Critical Science Plan for the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST)
- Structure and Dynamics of Isolated Internetwork Ca II H Bright Points Observed by Sunrise
- Waves in the lower solar atmosphere: the dawn of next-generation solar telescopes
- Propagating Wave Phenomena Detected in Observations and Simulations of the Lower Solar Atmosphere
- High-frequency Oscillations in Small Magnetic Elements Observed with Sunrise/SuFI
- Magnetic loops in the quiet Sun
- 3-D non-LTE radiative transfer effects in Fe I lines: II. Line formation in 3-D radiation hydrodynamic simulations
- Two-fluid simulations of waves in the solar chromosphere II. Propagation and damping of fast magneto-acoustic waves and shocks
- Magneto-acoustic wave energy from numerical simulations of an observed sunspot umbra
- Height variation of the cutoff frequency in a sunspot umbra
- The Frequency-dependent Damping of Slow Magnetoacoustic Waves in a Sunspot Umbral Atmosphere
- Interpreting the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) Multi-Height Velocity Measurements
- Surface waves in solar granulation observed with {\sc Sunrise}
- The energy of waves in the photosphere and lower chromosphere: IV. Inversion results of Ca II H spectra
- Observational study of chromospheric heating by acoustic waves
- Chromospheric heating by acoustic waves compared to radiative cooling
- Chromospheric and Coronal Wave Generation in a Magnetic Flux Sheath
- Numerical determination of the cutoff frequency in solar models
- High-frequency wave power observed in the solar chromosphere with IBIS and ALMA
- Hall instability of solar flux tubes
- The energy of waves in the photosphere and lower chromosphere: II. Intensity statistics
- Spiral-shaped wavefronts in a sunspot umbra
- The Sun at millimeter wavelengths. III. Impact of the spatial resolution on solar ALMA observations
- Average radial structures of gas convection in the solar granulation
- Slow magneto-acoustic waves in simulations of a solar plage region carry enough energy to heat the chromosphere
- New features of ion acoustic waves in inhomogeneous and permeating plasmas
- The formation and dissipation of current sheets and shocks due to compressive waves in a stratified atmosphere containing a magnetic null
- Fast magnetic wave could heat the solar low-beta chromosphere
- Acoustic Events in the Solar Atmosphere from Hinode/SOT NFI observations
- Internal Gravity Waves in the Magnetized Solar Atmosphere. II. Energy Transport
- Identifying acoustic wave sources on the Sun I. Two-dimensional waves in a simulated photosphere
- Evidence of quiet Sun chromospheric activity related to an emerging small-scale magnetic loop
- Newly formed downflow lanes in exploding granules in the solar photosphere
- Heating of solar chromosphere by electromagnetic wave absorption in a plasma slab model
- Identifying Acoustic Wave Sources on the Sun. II. Improved Filter Techniques for Source Wavefield Seismology
- High-resolution spectroscopy of Boyajian's star during optical dimming events
- Observations of Locally Excited Waves in the Low Solar Atmosphere Using the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST)
- Impulsive wave excitation by rapidly changing granules
- Assessment of DKIST/VTF Capabilities for the Detection of Local Acoustic Source Wavefronts
- A Scenario for Origin of Global 4 mHz Oscillations in Solar Corona
- Effects of spatial resolution on inferences of atmospheric quantities from simulations