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On the detection of shocks in the solar granulation.

Additional information

Authors
Solanki S., Rueedi I., Bianda M., Steffen M.
Type
Journal Article
Year
1996
Language
English
Abstract
We investigate the spectral signature of a hydrodynamic simulation of solar granulation and compare it with high resolution observations. The model gives the correct qualitative trend of increasing line width with decreasing continuum intensity seen by Nesis et al. (1992) and interpreted by them as a sign of post-shock turbulence. We find, however, that the profiles in the dark downflow lanes are broader even when there is no horizontal transonic flow or shock in the vicinity. We conclude that the observations of Nesis et al. do not provide any firm evidence for the presence of granular transonic flows. Nevertheless, the simulation predicts a promising diagnostic of shocked horizontal flows. We find that at the locations of the shocks the line profiles are particularly broad, especially near the solar limb. We present observations of quiet solar regions that show this specific signature of shocks and thus support the theoretical prediction of transonic granular flows.
Journal
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Volume
308
Start page number
623
End page number
630
Keywords
irsol-refereed-scientific-papers