Application of Mutual Information Methods in Time-Distance Helioseismology

TL;DR

This paper introduces the use of mutual information, a more general dependency detection method, in time-distance helioseismology, successfully reproducing classic results and providing new insights into solar dynamics.

Contribution

It applies mutual information to helioseismology, demonstrating its effectiveness over traditional cross-covariance methods in analyzing solar phenomena.

Findings

Reproduced solar differential rotation profile

Generated travel-time deviation map for a sunspot

Produced time-distance diagram from quiet Sun data

Abstract

We apply a new technique, the mutual information (MI) from information theory, to time-distance helioseismology, and demonstrate that it can successfully reproduce several classic results based on the widely used cross-covariance method. MI quantifies the deviation of two random variables from complete independence, and represents a more general method for detecting dependencies in time series than the cross-covariance function, which only detects linear relationships. We provide a brief description of the MI-based technique and discuss the results of the application of MI to derive the solar differential rotation profile, a travel-time deviation map for a sunspot and a time-distance diagram from quiet Sun measurements.