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Magnetohydrodynamic Waves and Coronal Heating: Unifying Empirical and MHD Turbulence Models

Sokolov I. V., B. van der Holst, R. Oran, C. Downs, I. I. Roussev, M. Jin, W. B. Manchester, R. M. Evans, T. I. Gombosi, (2013), Magnetohydrodynamic Waves and Coronal Heating: Unifying Empirical and MHD Turbulence Models, The Astrophysical Journal, 764, 23, doi:10.1088/0004-637X/764/1/23

Abstract

We present a new global model of the solar corona, including the low corona, the transition region, and the top of the chromosphere. The realistic three-dimensional magnetic field is simulated using the data from the photospheric magnetic field measurements. The distinctive feature of the new model is incorporating MHD Alfvén wave turbulence. We assume this turbulence and its nonlinear dissipation to be the only momentum and energy source for heating the coronal plasma and driving the solar wind. The difference between the turbulence dissipation efficiency in coronal holes and that in closed field regions is because the nonlinear cascade rate degrades in strongly anisotropic (imbalanced) turbulence in coronal holes (no inward propagating wave), thus resulting in colder coronal holes, from which the fast solar wind originates. The detailed presentation of the theoretical model is illustrated with the synthetic images for multi-wavelength EUV emission compared with the observations from SDO AIA and STEREO EUVI instruments for the Carrington rotation 2107.

Authors (sorted by name)

Downs Evans Gombosi Jin Manchester Oran Roussev Sokolov van der Holst

Journal / Conference

The Astrophysical Journal

Acknowledgments

The work was supported by the NSF CDI grant AGS-1027192 and the NASA LWS grant NNX09AJ78G. I.I.R. would like to acknowledge support from NSF grant ATM-0639335 (CAREER). R.M.E. is supported through an appointment to the NASA Postdoctoral Program at GSFC, administered by Oak Ridge Associated Universities through a contract with NASA.

Grants

AGS-1027192 ATM-0639335 NNX09AJ78G

Bibtex

@article{0004-637X-764-1-23,
  author={Igor V. Sokolov and Bart van der Holst and Rona Oran and Cooper Downs and Ilia I. Roussev and Meng Jin and Ward B. Manchester and Rebekah M. Evans and Tamas I. Gombosi},
  title={Magnetohydrodynamic Waves and Coronal Heating: Unifying Empirical and MHD Turbulence Models},
  doi={doi:10.1088/0004-637X/764/1/23},
  journal={The Astrophysical Journal},
  volume={764},
  number={1},
  pages={23},
  url={http://stacks.iop.org/0004-637X/764/i=1/a=23},
  year={2013},
  abstract={We present a new global model of the solar corona, including the low corona, the transition region, and the top of the chromosphere. The realistic three-dimensional magnetic field is simulated using the data from the photospheric magnetic field measurements. The distinctive feature of the new model is incorporating MHD Alfvén wave turbulence. We assume this turbulence and its nonlinear dissipation to be the only momentum and energy source for heating the coronal plasma and driving the solar wind. The difference between the turbulence dissipation efficiency in coronal holes and that in closed field regions is because the nonlinear cascade rate degrades in strongly anisotropic (imbalanced) turbulence in coronal holes (no inward propagating wave), thus resulting in colder coronal holes, from which the fast solar wind originates. The detailed presentation of the theoretical model is illustrated with the synthetic images for multi-wavelength EUV emission compared with the observations from SDO AIA and STEREO EUVI instruments for the Carrington rotation 2107.}
}