The Dynamics of the Solar Radiative Zone

Abstract

The dynamics of the solar radiative interior are still poorly constrained by comparison to the convective zone. This disparity is even more marked when we attempt to derive meaningful temporal variations. Many data sets contain a small number of modes that are sensitive to the inner layers of the Sun, but we found that the estimates of their uncertainties are often inaccurate. As a result, these data sets allow us to obtain, at best, a low resolution estimate of the solar core rotation rate down to approximately 0.2R. We present inferences based on mode determination resulting from an alternate peak-fitting methodology aimed at increasing the amount of observed modes that are sensitive to the radiative zone, while special care was taken in the determination of their uncertainties. This methodology has been applied to MDI and GONG data, for the whole Solar Cycle 23, and to the newly available HMI data. The numerical inversions of all these data sets result in the best inferences to date of the rotation in the radiative region. These results and the method used to obtain them are discussed. The resulting profiles are shown and analyzed, and the significance of the detected changes discussed.

16 pages, 13 figures, to appear in Solar Physics

References in corpus (6)

• On magnetic instabilities and dynamo action in stellar radiation zones
• Seismic and dynamical solar models i-the impact of the solar rotation history on neutrinos and seismic indicators
• Effect of a fossil magnetic field on the structure of a young Sun
• Sensitivity analysis of the solar rotation to helioseismic data from GONG, GOLF and MDI observations
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Cited by in corpus (16)

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• Nearly-uniform internal rotation of solar-like main-sequence stars revealed by space-based asteroseismology and spectroscopic measurements
• Solar structure and evolution
• Asteroseismic detection of latitudinal differential rotation in 13 Sun-like stars
• The Solar-Stellar Connection
• Near-degeneracy effects on the frequencies of rotationally-split mixed modes in red giants
• Differential rotation in main-sequence solar-like stars: Qualitative inference from asteroseismic data
• Gravitational waves from dark matter collapse in a star
• Solar Dynamics, Rotation, Convection and Overshoot
• Testing angular momentum transport processes with asteroseismology of solar-type main-sequence stars
• The radiative zone of the Sun and the tachocline: stability of baroclinic patterns of differential rotation
• Transition of latitudinal differential rotation as a possible cause of weakened magnetic braking of solar-type stars
• Observational techniques to measure solar and stellar oscillations
• Accurate Characterization of High-Degree Modes Using MDI Observations