Identifying Alfvén wave modes in the solar corona

Abstract

Context. Oscillations are observed to be pervasive throughout the solar corona, but it remains challenging to positively identify different wave modes. Improving this identification would provide a powerful tool for investigating coronal wave heating and improving seismological inversions. Aims. We aim to establish whether theoretical methods used to identify magnetohydrodynamical wave modes in numerical simulations can be employed on observational datasets. Methods. We applied wave identifiers based on fundamental wave characteristics such as compressibility and direction of propagation to a fully 3D numerical simulation of a transversely oscillating coronal loop. The same wave identifiers were applied to the line-of-sight integrated synthetic emission derived from the numerical simulation data to investigate whether this method could feasibly be useful for observational studies. Results. We established that for particular line(s) of sight and assumptions about the magnetic field, we can correctly identify the properties of the Alfvén mode in synthetic observations of a transversely oscillating loop. Under suitable conditions, there is a strong agreement between the simulation and synthetic emission results. Conclusions. For the first time, we have provided a proof of concept that this theoretically derived classification of magnetohydrodynamic wave modes can be applied to observational data.