Effects of asymmetric flows in solar convection on oscillation modes

Abstract

Many helioseismic measurements suffer from substantial systematic errors. A particularly frustrating one is that time-distance measurements suffer from a large center to limb effect which looks very similar to the finite light travel time, except that the magnitude depends on the observable used and can have the opposite sign. This has frustrated attempts to determine the deep meridional flow in the solar convection zone, with Zhao etal. applying an ad hoc correction with little physical basis to correct the data. In this Letter, we propose that part of this effect can be explained by the highly asymmetrical nature of the solar granulation which results in what appears to the oscillation modes as a net radial flow, thereby imparting a phase shift on the modes as a function of observing height and thus heliocentric angle. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..