Center-to-Limb Variation of Solar 3-D Hydrodynamical Simulations

TL;DR

This study compares 3-D hydrodynamical solar surface simulations with observations, showing that 3-D models better reproduce spectral line shapes and center-to-limb variations than 1-D models, indicating more realistic gas dynamics.

Contribution

It demonstrates that 3-D hydrodynamical simulations accurately predict solar center-to-limb spectral variations, improving upon previous averaged models.

Findings

3-D models match observed spectral line shapes better.

3-D simulations show more uniform abundances across the solar disk.

Center-to-limb variation predictions are consistent with observations.

Abstract

We examine closely the solar Center-to-Limb variation of continua and lines and compare observations with predictions from both a 3-D hydrodynamic simulation of the solar surface (provided by M. Asplund and collaborators) and 1-D model atmospheres. Intensities from the 3-D time series are derived by means of the new synthesis code ASSET, which overcomes limitations of previously available codes by including a consistent treatment of scattering and allowing for arbitrarily complex line and continuum opacities. In the continuum, we find very similar discrepancies between synthesis and observation for both types of model atmospheres. This is in contrast to previous studies that used a ``horizontally'' and time averaged representation of the 3-D model and found a significantly larger disagreement with observations. The presence of temperature and velocity fields in the 3-D simulation provides a significant advantage when it comes to reproduce solar spectral line shapes. Nonetheless, a comparison of observed and synthetic equivalent widths reveals that the 3-D model also predicts more uniform abundances as a function of position angle on the disk. We conclude that the 3-D simulation provides not only a more realistic description of the gas dynamics, but, despite its simplified treatment of the radiation transport, it also predicts reasonably well the observed Center-to-Limb variation, which is indicative of a thermal structure free from significant systematic errors.