ARE PULSING SOLITARY WAVES RUNNING INSIDE THE SUN?

Abstract

A precise sequence of frequencies—detected four independent ways—is interpreted as a system of solitary waves below the Sun's convective envelope. Six future observational or theoretical tests of this idea are suggested. Wave properties (rotation rates, radial energy distribution, nuclear excitation strength) follow from conventional dynamics of global oscillation modes after assuming a localized nuclear term strong enough to perturb and hold mode longitudes into alignments that form families. To facilitate future tests, more details are derived for a system of two dozen solitary waves 2 ≤ l ≤ 25. Wave excitation by 3He and 14C burning is complex. It spikes by factors M 1 ≤ 103 when many waves overlap in longitude but its long-time average is M 2 ≤ 10. Including mixing can raise overall excitation to ~50 times that in a standard solar model. These spikes cause tiny phase shifts that tend to pull wave rotation rates toward their ideal values ∝[l(l + 1)]–1. A system like this would generate some extra nuclear energy in two spots at low latitude on opposite sides of the Sun. Each covers about 20° of longitude. Above a certain wave amplitude, the system starts giving distinctly more nuclear excitation to some waves (e.g., l = 9, 14, and 20) than to neighboring l values. The prominence of l = 20 has already been reported. This transition begins at temperature amplitudes ΔT/T = 0.03 in the solar core for a typical family of modes, which corresponds to δT/T ~ 0.001 for one of its many component oscillation modes.