On seismic signatures of rapid variation

Abstract

We present an improved model for an asteroseismic diagnostic contained in the frequency spacing of low-degree acoustic modes. By modelling in a realistic manner regions of rapid variation of dynamically relevant quantities, which we call acoustic glitches, we can derive signatures of the gross properties of those glitches. In particular, we are interested in measuring properties that are related to the helium ionization zones and to the rapid variation in the background state associated with the lower boundary of the convective envelope. The formula for the seismic diagnostic is tested against a sequence of theoretical models of the Sun, and is compared with seismic diagnostics published previously by Monteiro & Thompson (1998, 2005) and by Basu et al. (2004).