Acoustic Imaging of Solar Active Regions (Invited Review)

Abstract

Acoustic imaging is a new method to construct the acoustic signal at a point on the solar surface or in the solar interior with the signals measured at the solar surface. The constructed signals contain both intensity information and phase information. The intensity is computed by summing the squared amplitude of the constructed signal over time. The phase of constructed signals can be studied by the cross-correlation function between the time series constructed with ingoing waves and outgoing waves. The location of the envelope peak of the cross-correlation function and the phase of the cross-correlation function contain different information on the physical conditions of the plasma along the wave path. From the constructed signals, one can form the two-dimensional outgoing intensity map, absorption map, phase-shift map, and envelope-shift map of a target region at different focal depths. The perturbed physical conditions caused by the magnetic fields of active regions manifest in these maps. The outgoing intensity is lower in magnetic regions than the quiet Sun. The group travel time and phase travel time are smaller in magnetic regions than in the quiet Sun. In this paper, we review the studies of active regions, including emerging flux regions, with acoustic imaging.