Wj. Chaplin et al., Variations in the excitation and damping of low-l solar p modes over the solar activity cycle, M NOT R AST, 313(1), 2000, pp. 32-42
We have searched helioseismic data collected by the Birmingham Solar Oscill
ations Network (BiSON) for solar-cycle changes to those low-L p-mode parame
ters that relate to the excitation and damping of the resonances. These dat
a - collected between 1991 and 1997 - cover the complete declining phase of
solar activity cycle 22 (up to and including the cycle 22/23 boundary). Ov
er the range 2600 less than or equal to nu less than or equal to 3600 mu Hz
, we uncover a mean 24 +/- 3 per cent increase in the frequency-domain line
widths; a mean decrease of 46 +/- 5 per cent decrease in the mode heights,
and a mean decrease of 22 +/- 3 per cent in the modal velocity powers. The
rate at which energy is supplied to the modes remains constant, at the leve
l of precision of the observations (measured change 0 +/- 4 per cent). We u
se expressions derived from the equation of a damped harmonic oscillator to
illustrate the diagnostic properties of the observables: these indicate th
at both the signs and relative sizes of the extracted variations can arise
from changes solely to the net damping; the net forcing of the modes need n
ot change.
The results possibly hint at the changes being maximal at frequencies near
similar to 3100 mu Hz. They might therefore suggest an origin for the obser
ved variations that is peaked in the superadiabatic layer of the convection
zone, which couples most strongly to the eigenfunctions of modes at the ce
ntre of the p-mode spectrum.