Oscillation Period Properties of Sunspots in the 8-10 mu m Infrared Band: A Multi-Dataset Analysis

arXiv:2607.15601 · astro-ph.SR · Submitted 2026-07-17 · Read on arXiv

Suo Liu

astro-ph.SR

Submitted: 2026-07-17

Comments: 13 pages, 5 figures

Journal ref: Solar Physics 2026

DOI: 10.1007/s11207-026-02707-0

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The gist: Sunspot oscillations probe magnetic-plasma interactions in the solar atmosphere.

Terminology

Abstract

Sunspot oscillations probe magnetic-plasma interactions in the solar atmosphere. We investigate oscillation periods in six sunspot active regions observed in the 8-10 um band with the Accurate Infra-red Magnetic-field Solar Telescope (AIMS) at Lenghu Observatory. Light curves were extracted from umbra, penumbra, and quiet Sun regions. Wavelet analysis was applied using four methods: pixel-wise with mean/median aggregation, and spatial mean/median prior to analysis. The weighted mean period is more physically meaningful than the dominant period, better representing multi-mode oscillations. A consistent period sequence holds across all datasets: umbra (U) < penumbra (P) < quiet Sun (Q), with typical values of 260-313 s, 286-374 s, and 294-382 s. This pattern is recovered with 100% consistency by pixel-wise mean/median and spatial median methods. Spatial mean shows 1/6 full, 3/6 partial, and 2/6 inconsistency. Spatial smoothing increases periods by up to 21%, most strongly in the umbra. All peak ratios are below 0.3 (mean 0.14 +/- 0.03), confirming multi-mode oscillations. These results establish the 8-10 um band as a valuable diagnostic window for sunspot magneto-convection and wave propagation.

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