Probing the Subsurface Structure of Active Regions with the Phase Information in Acoustic Imaging

Abstract

We present the phase information of solar p-mode waves constructed with an acoustic imaging technique in the solar interior. There exists a phase shift between the time series constructed with ingoing waves and outgoing waves. We find that this phase shift is different in an active region and the quiet Sun. The p-mode travel time is shorter in the magnetic regions than in the quiet Sun. We construct a three-dimensional phase shift map of the solar interior. As with the acoustic absorption images, the phase shift features of the active region in maps at the surface correlate with magnetic fields. The vertical extension of phase shift features in the active region is smaller in the phase maps constructed with shorter wavelengths. This indicates the vertical spatial resolution of these three-dimensional phase maps is sensitive to the range of modes used in constructing the signal. The actual depths of the phase shift features in the active region may be smaller than those shown in the three-dimensional phase maps.