Astronomy and Astrophysics Seminars
Imaging sub-photospheric structure of sunspots through seismology
by Mr. JISHNU BHATTACHARYA (DAA - TIFR)
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
from
to
(Asia/Kolkata)
at DAA SEMINAR ROOM ( A 269 )
at DAA SEMINAR ROOM ( A 269 )
TIFR
Description |
The Sun, being the closest star to Earth, has been observed in exquisite spatial and temporal resolution. Electromagnetic observations of the Sun, however, are unable to probe the opaque interior. Helioseismology has ushered in a new age in solar physics, wherein we use frequencies of resonant modes trapped in the Sun to compute its interior structure. Classical spherically symmetric models, despite being highly successful in replicating observed frequencies, do not allow us to image small-scale features in the Sun, such as sunspots. In this talk, I shall present a different approach --- studying travelling waves instead of standing waves, which allows us to transcend this barrier and focus on small regions in the solar interior. I will show that it is possible to use surface observations of travelling waves around a sunspot to reveal its internal structure lying hidden underneath. Proceeding along these lines, one would be able to image the solar interior in 3-dimensions, which is the ultimate goal. |