Magnitude assessment for stellarquakes

Abstract

Abstract

The extensive expansion of astrophysical investigations during the last years is a factor that needs a new approach and preparation to meet new challenges. The missions of telescopes Hubble and Web, the increased resolution of on-land telescopes, the new missions to the Sun, etc. reveal the possibility of knowing much more about the stars and star quakes. New unexpected seismic events have been detected on the Sun. From time to time Sun protuberances generate seismic waves very similar to those observed on the Earth’s oceans. This similarity is remarkable and gives the possibility to use the earthquake magnitude scale to assess the magnitude of sunquakes generated by solar flares. Magnitude as a seismic measurable unit was suggested by Charles Richter and Beno Gutenberg by the analogy of stars’ magnitude. The dependence of the earthquake magnitude to seismic energy and vice versa is an achievement that gives the way for the empirical transformation from magnitudes to seismic energy and vice versa. Sunquakes also contain other carried energy substances, but assuming only energy carried by the surface seismic waves it is a real possibility to perform the same approach for the assessment of sunquakes by a magnitude scale. The magnitude assessment of this research was limited only to stellarquakes – i.e. seismic events occurring on the fluid stars similar to the Sun and presented only by the surface seismic waves. As a result of our methodology stellarquakes magnitude scale was adapted using a similar approach to the Richter’s magnitude. The important issue is also the assessment of the possible variance of the stellarquakes magnitude for the different types of stars.