Vertical propagation of acoustic waves in the solar internetworkas observed by IRIS

Abstract

We investigate the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) observations of the quiet-Sun (QS) to understand the propagation of acoustic waves in transition region (TR) from photosphere. We selected a few IRIS spectral lines, which include the photospheric (Mn I 2801.25 Å), chromospheric (Mg II k 2796.35 Å), and TR (C II 1334.53 Å), to investigate the acoustic wave propagation. The wavelet cross-spectrum reveals significant coherence (about 70 per cent locations) between photosphere and chromosphere. Few minutes oscillations (i.e. period range from 1.6 to 4.0 min) successfully propagate into chromosphere from photosphere, which is confirmed by dominance of positive phase lags. However, in higher period regime (i.e. greater than ≈4.5 min), the downward propagation dominates is evident by negative phase lags. The broad spectrum of waves (i.e. 2.5-6.0 min) propagates freely upwards from chromosphere to TR. We find that only about 45 per cent locations (out of 70 per cent) show correlation between chromosphere and TR. Our results indicate that roots of 3 min oscillations observed within chromosphere/TR are located in photosphere. Observations also demonstrate that 5 min oscillations propagate downward from chromosphere. However, some locations within QS also show successful propagation of 5 min oscillations as revealed by positive phase lags, which might be the result of magnetic field. In addition, our results clearly show that a significant power, within period ranging from 2.5 to 6.0 min, of solar chromosphere is freely transmitted into TR triggering atmospheric oscillations. Theoretical implications of our observational results are discussed.