The physical nature of spiral wave patterns in sunspots

J Kang, J Chae, VM Nakariakov, K Cho… - The Astrophysical …, 2019 - iopscience.iop.org
J Kang, J Chae, VM Nakariakov, K Cho, H Kwak, K Lee
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2019iopscience.iop.org
Recently, spiral wave patterns (SWPs) have been detected in 3 minute oscillations of
sunspot umbrae, but the nature of this phenomenon has remained elusive. We present a
theoretical model that interprets the observed SWPs as the superposition of two different
azimuthal modes of slow magnetoacoustic waves driven below the surface in an untwisted
and non-rotating magnetic cylinder. We apply this model to SWPs of the line-of-sight (LOS)
velocity in a pore observed by the Fast Imaging Solar Spectrograph installed at the 1.6 m …
Abstract
Recently, spiral wave patterns (SWPs) have been detected in 3 minute oscillations of sunspot umbrae, but the nature of this phenomenon has remained elusive. We present a theoretical model that interprets the observed SWPs as the superposition of two different azimuthal modes of slow magnetoacoustic waves driven below the surface in an untwisted and non-rotating magnetic cylinder. We apply this model to SWPs of the line-of-sight (LOS) velocity in a pore observed by the Fast Imaging Solar Spectrograph installed at the 1.6 m Goode Solar Telescope. One-and two-armed SWPs were identified in instantaneous amplitudes of LOS Doppler velocity maps of 3 minute oscillations. The associated oscillation periods are about 160 s, and the durations are about 5 minutes. In our theoretical model, the observed spiral structures are explained by the superposition of non-zero azimuthal modes driven 1600 km below the photosphere in the pore. The one-armed SWP is produced by the slow-body sausage (m= 0) and kink (m= 1) modes, and the two-armed SWP is formed by the slow-body sausage (m= 0) and fluting (m= 2) modes of the magnetic flux tube forming the pore.
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