On the Interpretation of Solar Granulation

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Abstract
The technique of interpretation of solar granulation observations is examined with special reference to the stochastic nature of the physical phenomenon, and to the absence in any optical image of sufficient information to allow the intensity distribution in the object to be explicitly inferred. Many of the points made are elementary, and so not essentially novel, but the need for explicit discussion and illustration of each one has been evidenced by the publication in the recent literature of results which do not have the significance attributed to them. Application is made to the simultaneous velocity and brightness observations of Richardson and Schwarzschild and of Plaskett. It is concluded that the evidence for correlation between velocity and brightness is weaker than has been supposed. Harmonically related periodicities in two sets of the Oxford observations may possibly be connected with magneto-hydrodynamic effects, but the suggestion of some authors that there are significant periodicities over large regions of the Sun is not confirmed. The investigation has been planned as a contribution towards bringing techniques of interpretation into line with current advances in the observation of granulation, and the programmes developed for carrying out the required calculations on the EDSAC II computer may form a basis for the rapid analysis of future observations.

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