Observations of eigenfunctions of solar inertial modes using local correlation tracking of magnetic features

TL;DR

This study detects and analyzes solar inertial modes by tracking magnetic features on the Sun's surface, revealing their latitudinal profiles and oscillation patterns using advanced correlation and decomposition techniques.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method of observing solar inertial modes through local correlation tracking of magnetic features and SVD analysis, providing new insights into deep convection zone dynamics.

Findings

Detected eigenfunctions of solar inertial modes

Mapped latitudinal profiles of the modes

Analyzed time modulation of oscillations

Abstract

Solar inertial modes are quasi-toroidal modes of the Sun that are of practical interest as they allow probing the deep convection zone. Since 2010, solar images of the photospheric magnetic field are made available by HMI onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory. In this work, we track the motion of the small magnetic features using a cross correlation technique. Under the assumption that these features are passive tracers, we obtain time series of the horizontal flow field on the solar surface. A Singular Value Decomposition is then applied to these data to extract the latitudinal profile as well as the time modulation of the modes of oscillation.