A spectral solver for solar inertial waves

Abstract

Inertial waves, which are dominantly driven by the Coriolis force, likely play an important role in solar dynamics, and additionally, provide a window into the solar subsurface. The latter allows us to infer properties that are inaccessible to the traditional technique of acoustic-wave helioseismology. Thus, a full characterization of these normal modes holds promise in enabling the investigation of solar subsurface dynamics. In this work, we develop a spectral eigenvalue solver to model the spectrum of inertial waves in the Sun. We model the solar convection zone as an anelastic medium, and solve for the normal modes of the momentum and energy equations. We demonstrate that the solver can reproduce the observed mode frequencies and line-widths well, not only of sectoral Rossby modes, but also the recently observed high-frequency inertial modes. In addition, we believe that the spectral solver is a useful contribution to the numerical methods on modeling inertial modes on the Sun.

6 Figures, accepted for publication in ApJS

References in corpus (9)

• Solar differential rotation and meridional flow: The role of a subadiabatic tachocline for the Taylor-Proudman balance
• A simulation of convective dynamo in the solar convective envelope: maintenance of the solar-like differential rotation and emerging flux
• Solar inertial modes: Observations, identification, and diagnostic promise
• Theory of solar oscillations in the inertial frequency range: Linear modes of the convection zone
• Long-term variation in the Sun's activity caused by magnetic Rossby waves in the tachocline
• Exploring the latitude and depth dependence of solar Rossby waves using ring-diagram analysis
• Identification of inertial modes in the solar convection zone
• Magnetic activity in the photosphere of CoRoT-Exo-2a. Active longitudes and short-term spot cycle in a young Sun-like star
• Detection of Rossby modes with even azimuthal orders using helioseismic normal-mode coupling

Cited by in corpus (4)

• A theoretic analysis of magnetoactive GES-based turbulent solar plasma instability
• Assessing the validity of the anelastic and Boussinesq approximations to model solar inertial modes
• Spectral Difference method with a posteriori limiting: II- Application to low Mach number flows
• Effects of the radiative interior on solar inertial modes