Application of Fano profiles to asymmetric resonances in helioseismology

Abstract

Parallels are drawn between the asymmetric resonance profiles observed in global helioseismology and the Fano theory for autoionisation profiles in atomic spectroscopy. We show that the underlying physics of the interaction of a discrete resonance with a correlated continuum is common to both systems. The approximate formula normally used for fitting to profiles in helioseismology is essentially similar to that developed for atomic spectroscopy by Fano. We propose that the two systems are in reality equivalent. This proposition enables us to understand better which resonances in helioseismology will be correlated with each other and with which solar background ``continua". We also question whether the two interacting influences of excitation sources and correlated solar background, are really separate independent processes.