arXiv subjects

Thomas Hartlep

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas Hartlep.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Evidence For Turbulent Concentration In Particle-Laden Midplane Layers of Planet-Forming Disks

We investigate the axisymmetric, weakly turbulent state of settled particle layers in a model of a globally laminar protoplanetary disk. We focus on conditions in which the large-scale axisymmetric filaments associated with the streaming instability (SI) either cannot form or have not developed yet. We observe small-scale particle clumping consistent with turbulent concentration (TC), in which particle-rich filaments align with regions of high gas strain rate and enclose gas-only voids exhibiting coherent vorticity. Across a range of particle Stokes numbers, St$_K$ ($0.01-0.04$) -- defined as stopping times relative to the Keplerian frequency -- effective Stokes number within particle voids, St$_{\omega}$, defined instead using local gas vorticity, collapses to values in the range $\sim 0.4-0.7$ for the St$_K$ considered. These values lie close to critical turbulent Stokes numbers associated with maximal clustering intermittency identified in statistical studies of TC. A timescale comparison reveals that in simulations with midplane particle-to-gas density ratios below unity and St$_K \ll 1$, SI growth rates are 1 - 2 orders of magnitude slower than turbulent overturn frequencies at the large-eddy scale, which appears to rule out SI as the primary driver of turbulence here. Instead, we suggest the Symmetric Instability (SymI) may be responsible. We show for our St$_K$ that TC is a persistent feature of our turbulent particle layers, and conclude that small scale particle density fluctuations exceeding the Roche density within large-scale axisymmetric SI filaments reported in the literature are also expressions of TC operating on top of the slightly elevated background particle densities within those large-scale structures.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2023

Assessing the Observability of Deep Meridional Flow Cells in the Solar Interior

Meridional circulation regulates the Sun's interior dynamics and magnetism. While it is well accepted that meridional flows are poleward at the Sun's surface, helioseismic observations have yet to provide a definitive answer for the depth at which those flows return to the equator, or the number of circulation cells in depth. Here, we explore the observability of multiple circulation cells stacked in radius. Specifically, we examine the seismic signature of several meridional flow profiles by convolving time-distance averaging kernels with mean flows obtained from a suite of 3D hydrodynamic simulations. At mid and high latitudes, we find that weak flow structures in the deep convection zone can be obscured by signals from the much stronger surface flows. This contamination of 1--2 m s$^{-1}$ is caused by extended side lobes in the averaging kernels, which produce a spurious equatorward signal with flow speeds that are one order of magnitude stronger than the original flow speeds in the simulations. At low latitudes, the flows in the deep layers of the simulations are stronger ($> 2$ m s$^{-1}$) and multiple cells across the convection zone can produce a sufficiently strong signal to survive the convolution process. Now that meridional flows can be measured over two decades of data, the uncertainties arising from convective noise have fallen to a level where they are comparable in magnitude to the systematic biases caused by non-local features in the averaging kernels. Hence, these systematic errors are beginning to influence current helioseismic deductions and need broader consideration.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2021

Computing Helioseismic Sensitivity Kernels for the Sun's Large-Scale Internal Flows using Global-Scale Wave-Propagation Simulations

Helioseismic waves observable at the solar surface can be used to probe the properties of the Sun's interior. By measuring helioseismic travel times between different location on the surface, flows and other interior properties can be inferred using so-called sensitivity kernels which relate the amount of travel-time shift with variations in interior proporties. In particular, sensitivity kernels for flows have been developed in the past, using either ray or Born approximation, and have been used to infer solar interior flows such as the meridional circulation which is of particular interest for understanding the structure and dynamics of the Sun. Here we introduce a new method for deriving three-dimensional sensitivity kernels for large-scale horizontal flows in the solar interior. We perform global-Sun wave-propagation simulations through 784 small flow perturbations placed individually in the interior of a simulated Sun, and measure the shifts in helioseismic travel times caused by these perturbations. Each measurement corresponds to a linear equation connecting the flow perturbation velocities and the sensitivity kernels. By solving the resulting large set of coupled linear equations, we derive three-dimensional sensitivity kernels for horizontal flows which have a longitudinal component (parallel to the wave's travel direction) and a transverse component (perpendicular to the wave's travel direction). The kernels exhibit a "banana" shape, similar to kernels derived using Born approximation methods, and show that transverse components are not negligible in inversions for interior flows.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2020

Cascade Model for Planetesimal Formation by Turbulent Clustering

We use a newly developed cascade model of turbulent concentration of particles in protoplanetary nebulae to calculate several properties of interest to the formation of primitive planetesimals and to the meteorite record. The model follows, and corrects, calculations of the primary planetesimal Initial Mass Function (IMF) by Cuzzi et al. (2010), in which an incorrect cascade model was used. Here we use the model of Hartlep et al. (2017), which has been validated against several published numerical simulations of particle concentration in turbulence. We find that, for a range of nebula and particle properties, planetesimals may be "born big", formed as sandpiles with diameters in the 10-100 km range, directly from freely floating particles. The IMFs have a modal nature, with a well-defined peak rather than a powerlaw size dependence. Predictions for the inner and outer nebula behave similarly in these regards, and observations of inner and outer nebula primitive bodies support such modal IMFs. Also, we present predictions of local particle concentrations on several lengthscales in which particles "commonly" find themselves, which have significance for meteoritical observations of the redox state and isotopic fractionation in regions of chondrule formation. An important difference between these results, and those of Cuzzi et al. (2010), is that particle growth-by-sticking must proceed to at least the 1-few cm radius range for the IMF and meteoritical properties to be most plausibly satisfied. That is, as far as the inner nebula goes, the predominant "particles" must be aggregates of chondrules (or chondrule-size precursors) rather than individual chondrules themselves.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2017

Scale Dependence of Multiplier Distributions for Particle Concentration, Enstrophy and Dissipation in the Inertial Range of Homogeneous Turbulence

Turbulent flows preferentially concentrate inertial particles depending on their stopping time or Stokes number, which can lead to significant spatial variations in the particle concentration. Cascade models are one way to describe this process in statistical terms. Here, we use a direct numerical simulation (DNS) dataset of homogeneous, isotropic turbulence to determine probability distribution functions (PDFs) for cascade multipliers, which determine the ratio by which a property is partitioned into sub-volumes as an eddy is envisioned to decay into smaller eddies. We present a technique for correcting effects of small particle numbers in the statistics. We determine multiplier PDFs for particle number, flow dissipation, and enstrophy, all of which are shown to be scale dependent. However, the particle multiplier PDFs collapse when scaled with an appropriately defined local Stokes number. As anticipated from earlier works, dissipation and enstrophy multiplier PDFs reach an asymptote for sufficiently small spatial scales. From the DNS measurements, we derive a cascade model that is used it to make predictions for the radial distribution function (RDF) for arbitrarily high Reynolds numbers, $Re$, finding good agreement with the asymptotic, infinite $Re$ inertial range theory of Zaichik and Alipchenkov [New Journal of Physics 11, 103018 (2009)]. We discuss implications of these results for the statistical modeling of the turbulent clustering process in the inertial range for high Reynolds numbers inaccessible to numerical simulations.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2016

Verification of the helioseismic Fourier-Legendre analysis for meridional flow measurements

Measuring the Sun's internal meridional flow is one of the key issues of helioseismology. Using the Fourier-Legendre analysis is a technique for addressing this problem. We validate this technique with the help of artificial helioseismic data. The analysed data set was obtained by numerically simulating the effect of the meridional flow on the seismic wave field in the full volume of the Sun. In this way, a 51.2-hour long time series was generated. The resulting surface velocity field is then analyzed in various settings: Two $360^\circ \times 90^\circ$ halfspheres, two $120^\circ \times 60^\circ$ patches on the front and farside of the Sun (North and South, respectively) and two $120^\circ \times 60^\circ$ patches on the northern and southern frontside only. We compare two possible measurement setups: observations from Earth and from an additional spacecraft on the solar farside, and observations from Earth only, in which case the full information of the global solar oscillation wave field was available. We find that, with decreasing observing area, the accessible depth range decreases: the $360^\circ \times 90^\circ$ view allows us to probe the meridional flow almost to the bottom of the convection zone, while the $120^\circ \times 60^\circ$ view means only the outer layers can be probed. These results confirm the validity of the Fourier-Legendre analysis technique for helioseismology of the meridional flow. Furthermore these flows are of special interest for missions like Solar Orbiter that promises to complement standard helioseismic measurements from the solar nearside with farside observations.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2015

Detection of Fast-Moving Waves Propagating Outward along Sunspots' Radial Direction in the Photosphere

Helioseismic and magnetohydrodynamic waves are abundant in and above sunspots. Through cross-correlating oscillation signals in the photosphere observed by the SDO/HMI, we reconstruct how waves propagate away from virtual wave sources located inside a sunspot. In addition to the usual helioseismic wave, a fast-moving wave is detected traveling along the sunspot's radial direction from the umbra to about 15 Mm beyond the sunspot boundary. The wave has a frequency range of 2.5 - 4.0 mHz with a phase velocity of 45.3 km/s, substantially faster than the typical speeds of Alfven and magnetoacoustic waves in the photosphere. The observed phenomenon is consistent with a scenario of that a magnetoacoustic wave is excited at approximately 5 Mm beneath the sunspot, and its wavefront travels to and sweeps across the photosphere with a speed higher than the local magnetoacoustic speed. The fast-moving wave, if truly excited beneath the sunspot's surface, will help open a new window to study the internal structure and dynamics of sunspots.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2013

Detection of Equatorward Meridional Flow and Evidence of Double-Cell Meridional Circulation inside the Sun

Meridional flow in the solar interior plays an important role in redistributing angular momentum and transporting magnetic flux inside the Sun. Although it has long been recognized that the meridional flow is predominantly poleward at the Sun's surface and in its shallow interior, the location of the equatorward return flow and the meridional flow profile in the deeper interior remain unclear. Using the first two years of continuous helioseismology observations from the Solar Dynamics Observatory / Helioseismic Magnetic Imager, we analyze travel times of acoustic waves that propagate through different depths of the solar interior carrying information about the solar interior dynamics. After removing a systematic center-to-limb effect in the helioseismic measurements and performing inversions for flow speed, we find that the poleward meridional flow of a speed of 15 m/s extends in depth from the photosphere to about 0.91 R_sun. An equatorward flow of a speed of 10 m/s is found between 0.82 to 0.91 R_sun in the middle of the convection zone. Our analysis also shows evidence of that the meridional flow turns poleward again below 0.82 R_sun, indicating an existence of a second meridional circulation cell below the shallower one. This double-cell meridional circulation profile with an equatorward flow shallower than previously thought suggests a rethinking of how magnetic field is generated and redistributed inside the Sun.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2012

Verification of the Travel Time Measurement Technique and the Helioseismic Inversion Procedure for Sound Speed Using Artificial Data

We performed 3D numerical simulations of the solar surface wave field for the quiet Sun and for three models with different localized sound-speed variations in the interior with: (i) deep, (ii) shallow, and (iii) two-layer structures. We used simulated data generated by two different codes which use the same standard solar model as a background model, but utilize two different integration techniques and use different models of stochastic wave excitation. Acoustic travel times were measured from all data sets using the time-distance helioseismology technique and compared with the ray theory predictions, frequently used for helioseismic travel-time inversions. It is found that the measured travel-time shifts agree well with the ray theory in both cases with and without phase-speed filtering for the shallow and deep perturbations. This testing verifies the whole measuring-filtering-inversion procedure for sound-speed anomalies inside the Sun. It is shown, that the phase-speed filtering, frequently used to improve the signal-to-noise ratio does not introduce significant systematic errors. Results of the sound-speed inversion procedure show good agreement with the background sound-speed profiles in all cases. Due to its smoothing nature, the inversion procedure overestimates sound speed variations in areas with sharp gradients of the sound-speed profile.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2012

Solar wave-field simulation for testing prospects of helioseismic measurements of deep meridional flows

The meridional flow in the Sun is an axisymmetric flow that is generally poleward directed at the surface, and is presumed to be of fundamental importance in the generation and transport of magnetic fields. Its true shape and strength, however, is debated. We present a numerical simulation of helioseismic wave propagation in the whole solar interior in the presence of a prescribed, stationary, single-cell, deep meridional circulation serving as a test-bed for helioseismic measurement techniques. A deep-focusing time-distance helioseismology technique is applied to the artificial data showing that it can in fact be used to measure the effects of the meridional flow very deep in the solar convection zone. It is shown that the ray-approximation which is commonly used for interpretation of helioseismology measurements remains a reasonable approximation even for the very long distances between 12 and 42 degrees corresponding to depths between 52 and 195 Mm considered here. From the measurement noise we extrapolate that on the order of a full solar cycle may be needed to probe the flow all the way to the base of the convection zone.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2010

Signatures of Emerging Subsurface Structures in Acoustic Power Maps

We show that under certain conditions, subsurface structures in the solar interior can alter the average acoustic power observed at the photosphere above them. By using numerical simulations of wave propagation, we show that this effect is large enough for it to be potentially used for detecting emerging active regions before they appear on the surface. In our simulations, simplified subsurface structures are modeled as regions with enhanced or reduced acoustic wave speed. We investigate the dependence of the acoustic power above a subsurface region on the sign, depth, and strength of the wave speed perturbation. Observations from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/Michelson Doppler Imager (SOHO/MDI) prior and during the emergence of NOAA active region 10488 are used to test the use of acoustic power as a potential precursor of magnetic flux emergence.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2009

Time-Distance Solar Far-Side Imaging Using Three-Skip Acoustic Signals

The purpose of this work is to image solar far-side active regions using acoustic signals with three skips and improve the quality of existing images. The mapping of far-side active regions was first made possible using the helioseismic holography technique by use of four-skip acoustic signals. The quality of far-side images was later improved with the combination of four- and five-skip signals using the time-distance helioseismology technique. In this work, we explore the possibility of making three-skip far-side images of active regions, and improving the image quality by combining the three-skip images with the images obtained from existing techniques. A new method of combining images is proposed that increases the signal-to-noise ratio and reduces the appearance of spurious features.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2009

Imaging the Solar Tachocline by Time-Distance Helioseismology

The solar tachocline at the bottom of the convection zone is an important region for the dynamics of the Sun and the solar dynamo. In this region, the sound speed inferred by global helioseismology exhibits a bump of approximately 0.4% relative to the standard solar model. Global helioseismology does not provide any information on possible latitudinal variations or asymmetries between the Northern and Southern hemisphere. Here, we develop a time-distance helioseismology technique, including surface- and deep-focusing measurement schemes and a combination of both, for two-dimensional tomographic imaging of the solar tachocline that infers radial and latitudinal variations in the sound speed. We test the technique using artificial solar oscillation data obtained from numerical simulations. The technique successfully recovers major features of the simplified tachocline models. The technique is then applied to SOHO/MDI medium-l data and provides for the first time a full two-dimensional sound-speed perturbation image of the solar tachocline. The one-dimensional radial profile obtained by latitudinal averaging of the image is in good agreement with the previous global helioseismology result. It is found that the amplitude of the sound-speed perturbation at the tachocline varies with latitude, but it is not clear whether this is in part or fully an effect of instrumental distortion. Our initial results demonstrate that time-distance helioseismology can be used to probe the deep interior structure of the Sun, including the solar tachocline.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2008

Solar Convection Simulations using a B-spline method

This report outlines the development of a B-spline--spectral numerical code for the simulation of convection flows. It allows changing the spatial resolution in all three coordinates as a function of depth, which is especially advantageous for simulations of solar convection.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Validating Time-Distance Far-side Imaging of Solar Active Regions through Numerical Simulations

Far-side images of solar active regions have become one of the routine products of helioseismic observations, and are of importance for space weather forecasting by allowing the detection of sunspot regions before they become visible on the Earth side of the Sun. An accurate assessment of the quality of the far-side maps is difficult, because there are no direct observations of the solar far side to verify the detections. In this paper we assess far-side imaging based on the time-distance helioseismology method, by using numerical simulations of solar oscillations in a spherical solar model. Localized variations in the speed of sound in the surface and subsurface layers are used to model the perturbations associated with sunspots and active regions. We examine how the accuracy of the resulting far-side maps of acoustic travel times depends on the size and location of active regions. We investigate potential artifacts in the far-side imaging procedure, such as those caused by the presence of active regions on the solar near side, and suggest how these artifacts can be identified in the real Sun far-side images obtained from SOHO/MDI and GONG data.

astro-ph↗