Magnetic Transport On The Solar Atmosphere By Turbulent Ambipolar Diffusion

TL;DR

This paper investigates how turbulent ambipolar diffusion influences magnetic transport in the partially ionized, turbulent plasma of the lower solar atmosphere, highlighting its faster timescale and role in magnetic structure formation.

Contribution

It compares laminar and turbulent ambipolar diffusion timescales, demonstrating turbulence significantly accelerates magnetic transport in the solar atmosphere.

Findings

Turbulent ambipolar diffusion occurs faster than laminar diffusion.

Turbulence reduces the characteristic timescale by orders of magnitude.

Magnetic structures with sharp gradients form due to nonlinearity, facilitating reconnection.

Abstract

The lower solar atmosphere consists of partially ionized turbulent plasmas harbouring velocity field, magnetic field and current density fluctuations. The correlations amongst these small scale fluctuations give rise to large scale flows and magnetic fields which decisively affect all transport processes. The three fluid system consisting of electrons, ions and neutral particles supports nonideal effects such as the Hall effect and the ambipolar diffusion. Here, we study magnetic transport by ambipolar diffusion and compare the characteristic timescales of the laminar and the turbulent ambipolar diffusion processes. As expected from a turbulent transport process, the time scale of the turbulent ambipolar diffusion is found to be smaller by orders of magnitude as compared with the laminar ambipolar diffusion.The nonlinearity of the laminar ambipolar diffusion creates magnetic structures with sharp gradients which are amenable to processes such as magnetic reconnection and energy release therefrom for heating and flaring of the solar plasma.