A New Way to Infer Variations of the Seismic Solar Radius

Abstract

We show that the mean phase of waves propagating all the way from the far side of the Sun to the front side, as measured by seismic holography, varies with time. The change is highly anticorrelated with solar cycle activity and is consistent with other recent results on the variation of the seismic radius of the Sun. The phase change that we observe corresponds to a few kilometers difference in the seismic solar radius from solar maximum to solar minimum in agreement with inferences from global helioseismology studies.