Decoding the Radial Velocity Signatures of Solar Faculae with 3D MHD Simulations

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Kröll, Florian, Krishnamurthy, Sowmya, Shapiro, Alexander, Cameron, Andrew Collier, Witzke, Veronika, Solanki, Sami Khan, Ribas, Ignasi, Shelyag, Sergiy, Kopp, Greg, Nèmec, Nina Elisabeth, Stucki, Sophie
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Kröll, Florian
Krishnamurthy, Sowmya
Shapiro, Alexander
Cameron, Andrew Collier
Witzke, Veronika
Solanki, Sami Khan
Ribas, Ignasi
Shelyag, Sergiy
Kopp, Greg
Nèmec, Nina Elisabeth
Stucki, Sophie
author_facet Kröll, Florian
Krishnamurthy, Sowmya
Shapiro, Alexander
Cameron, Andrew Collier
Witzke, Veronika
Solanki, Sami Khan
Ribas, Ignasi
Shelyag, Sergiy
Kopp, Greg
Nèmec, Nina Elisabeth
Stucki, Sophie
contents We model the solar radial velocity (RV) signal induced by faculae, the dominant contributor to RV variability in Sun-like stars. We use a representative case of a facular patch transiting the visible solar disk as the Sun rotates to disentangle various physical effects contributing to the RV signal. Our approach is based on 3D radiative magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the solar photosphere and upper convection zone with the MURaM code and spectral synthesis with the MPS-ATLAS code. We show that the faculae-induced RV strongly depends on the facular position on the solar disk. Near disk centre, facular magnetic fields inhibit the convective blueshift and thus produce a relative redshift of the solar spectrum. Surprisingly, when located closer to the limb, namely at heliocentric angles greater than about $60^\circ$, faculae produce a relative blueshift. This transition from redshift to blueshift is caused by the effect of magnetic fields on horizontal flows, which dominate the signal near the limb, and on the visibility of these flows. In combination with solar rotation, this centre-to-limb dependence of the facular effect leads to a complex RV profile during the facular transit and, in particular, to a phase lag between the maximum of the RV signal and the facular crossing of the central meridian. We further show that, in contrast to stellar reflex motion, the facular signal strongly depends on the spectral line in which it is measured.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_22615
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Decoding the Radial Velocity Signatures of Solar Faculae with 3D MHD Simulations
Kröll, Florian
Krishnamurthy, Sowmya
Shapiro, Alexander
Cameron, Andrew Collier
Witzke, Veronika
Solanki, Sami Khan
Ribas, Ignasi
Shelyag, Sergiy
Kopp, Greg
Nèmec, Nina Elisabeth
Stucki, Sophie
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
We model the solar radial velocity (RV) signal induced by faculae, the dominant contributor to RV variability in Sun-like stars. We use a representative case of a facular patch transiting the visible solar disk as the Sun rotates to disentangle various physical effects contributing to the RV signal. Our approach is based on 3D radiative magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the solar photosphere and upper convection zone with the MURaM code and spectral synthesis with the MPS-ATLAS code. We show that the faculae-induced RV strongly depends on the facular position on the solar disk. Near disk centre, facular magnetic fields inhibit the convective blueshift and thus produce a relative redshift of the solar spectrum. Surprisingly, when located closer to the limb, namely at heliocentric angles greater than about $60^\circ$, faculae produce a relative blueshift. This transition from redshift to blueshift is caused by the effect of magnetic fields on horizontal flows, which dominate the signal near the limb, and on the visibility of these flows. In combination with solar rotation, this centre-to-limb dependence of the facular effect leads to a complex RV profile during the facular transit and, in particular, to a phase lag between the maximum of the RV signal and the facular crossing of the central meridian. We further show that, in contrast to stellar reflex motion, the facular signal strongly depends on the spectral line in which it is measured.
title Decoding the Radial Velocity Signatures of Solar Faculae with 3D MHD Simulations
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.22615