Observational Evidence for Variations of the Acoustic Cutoff Frequency With Height in the Solar Atmosphere

Direct evidence for the existence of an acoustic cutoff frequency in the solar atmosphere is given by observations performed by using the HELioseismological Large Regions Interferometric DEvice operating on the Vacuum Tower Telescope located on Tenerife. The observational results demonstrate variations of the cutoff with atmospheric heights. The observed variations of the cutoff are compared to theoretical predictions made by using five acoustic cutoff frequencies that have been commonly used in helioseismology and asteroseismology. The comparison shows that none of the theoretical predictions is fully consistent with the observational data. The implication of this finding is far reaching as it urgently requires either major revisions of the existing methods of finding acoustic cutoff frequencies or developing new methods that would much better account for the physical picture underlying the concept of cutoff frequencies in inhomogeneous media.