Modeling Solar Oscillation Power Spectra. I. Adaptive Response Function for Doppler Velocity Measurements

Improving the accuracy and resolution of helioseismic inversions calls for more accurate modeling of the observational p -mode power spectra from which the solar oscillation frequencies are traditionally measured. We present a new technique of calculating the response function (leakage matrix) for Doppler velocity measurements that is based largely on an analytical description of the relevant instrumental and physical effects. The computational efficiency of the new approach allows us to implement the response function in an adaptive manner: i.e., the compensation for instrumental or optical distortions of unknown magnitude can be performed as a part of the spectral fitting procedure.