Numerical Simulations of Oscillation Modes of the Solar Convection Zone

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Abstract
We use the three-dimensional hydrodynamic code of Stein & Nordlund to realistically simulate the upper layers of the solar convection zone in order to study physical characteristics of solar oscillations. Our first result is that the properties of oscillation modes in the simulation closely match the observed properties. Recent observations from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)/Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) and Global Oscillations Network Group have confirmed the asymmetry of solar oscillation line profiles, initially discovered by Duvall et al. In this Letter, we compare the line profiles in the power spectra of the Doppler velocity and continuum intensity oscillations from the SOHO/MDI observations with the simulation. We also compare the phase differences between the velocity and intensity data. We have found that the simulated line profiles are asymmetric and have the same asymmetry reversal between velocity and intensity as observed. The phase difference between the velocity and intensity signals is negative at low frequencies, and phase jumps in the vicinity of modes are also observed. Thus, our numerical model reproduces the basic observed properties of solar oscillations and allows us to study the physical properties which are not observed.
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