An Excitation Mechanism for Solar 5-minute Oscillations of Intermediate and High Degree

The overstability of acoustic modes trapped in the solar convection zone is studied with mechanical and thermal effects of turbulence included, in an approximate manner, through the eddy transport coefficients. Many of these acoustic modes are found to be overstable with the most rapidly growing modes occupying a region centered around 3.2 mHz and spread over a wide range of length-scales. The numerical results are in reasonable accord with the observed power-spectrum of the five-minute oscillations of intermediate and high degree. The oscillations are probably driven by a simultaneous operation of the kappa-mechanism and the turbulent conduction (convective Cowling) mechanism, the dominant contribution to the generation of self-excited acoustic waves arising from the convective Cowling mechanism.