Peaks and Troughs in Helioseismology: The Power Spectrum of Solar Oscillations

Abstract

I present a matched-wave asymptotic analysis of the driving of solar oscillations by a general localized source. The analysis provides a simple mathematical description of the asymmetric peaks in the power spectrum in terms of the relative locations of eigenmodes and troughs in the spectral response. It is suggested that the difference in measured phase function between the modes and the troughs in the spectrum will provide a key diagnostic of the source of the oscillations. I also suggest a form for the asymmetric line profiles to be used in the fitting of solar power spectra. Finally, I present a comparison between the numerical and asymptotic descriptions of the oscillations. The numerical results bear out the qualitative features suggested by the asymptotic analysis but suggest that numerical calculations of the locations of the troughs will be necessary for a quantitative comparison with the observations.