Exploring source region of 3-min slow magnetoacoustic waves observed in coronal fan loops rooted in sunspot umbra

TL;DR

This study investigates the origin of 3-minute slow magnetoacoustic waves in coronal fan loops rooted in sunspot umbra, revealing their photospheric origin and magnetic coupling across atmospheric layers.

Contribution

It demonstrates that 3-minute waves in coronal fan loops originate from photospheric oscillations and explores their amplitude modulation and weak coupling with 5-minute oscillations.

Findings

3-minute oscillations are present at all atmospheric heights and loop foot-points.

Amplitude modulation periods range from 9 to 40 minutes.

Waves are driven by photospheric 3-minute oscillations, indicating magnetic coupling.

Abstract

Sunspots host various oscillations and wave phenomena like umbral flashes, umbral oscillations, running penumbral waves, and coronal waves. All fan loops rooted in sunspot umbra constantly show a 3-min period propagating slow magnetoacoustic waves in the corona. However, their origin in the lower atmosphere is still unclear. In this work, we studied these oscillations in detail along a clean fan loop system rooted in active region AR12553 for a duration of 4-hour on June 16, 2016 observed by Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) and Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). We traced foot-points of several fan loops by identifying their locations at different atmospheric heights from the corona to the photosphere. We found presence of 3-min oscillations at foot-points of all the loops and at all atmospheric heights. We further traced origin of these waves by utilising their amplitude modulation characteristics while propagating in the solar atmosphere. We found several amplitude modulation periods in the range of 9-14 min, 20-24 min, and 30-40 min of these 3-min waves at all heights. Based on our findings, we interpret that 3-min slow magnetoacoustic waves propagating in coronal fan loops are driven by 3-min oscillations observed at the photospheric foot-points of these fan loops in the umbral region. We also explored any connection between 3-min and 5-min oscillations observed at the photospheric foot-points of these loops and found them to be weakly coupled. Results provide clear evidence of magnetic coupling of the solar atmosphere through propagation of 3-min waves along fan loops at different atmospheric heights.