MEASUREMENTS OF HIGH-FREQUENCY SOLAR OSCILLATION MODES

The spatial-temporal spectrum of solar oscillations exhibits modelike structure at frequencies above the nominal photospheric acoustic cutoff of about 5.3 mHz. The line width and frequency of these features are measured as functions of degree from high-quality spectra obtained from observations made at the geographic South Pole. From 5.3 to 6.5 mHz the line widths are relatively constant with a value of about 70-mu-Hz, approximately one-half the frequency difference between modes of the same degree but successive values of radial order number. This width is larger than can be accounted for by simple considerations of the leakage of trapped acoustic waves. The frequencies of the high-frequency modes adhere to a simple dispersion law if one uses a substantially larger effective phase shift than applies at lower frequencies. The frequency variation of this phase shift changes markedly above the acoustic cutoff frequency.