Surface Alfven Wave Damping in a 3D Simulation of the Solar Wind

TL;DR

This study uses 3D MHD simulations to quantify how surface Alfven wave damping contributes to solar wind heating, revealing significant effects especially in quiet sun regions and emphasizing its role in coronal energy transfer.

Contribution

First 3D simulation analysis of surface Alfven wave damping without assuming predefined magnetic or density structures, highlighting its importance in solar wind heating models.

Findings

Waves >2.8x10^-4 Hz are damped between 1-4 solar radii.

Damping is more significant in quiet sun regions than active regions.

Surface Alfven wave damping can be comparable to turbulence in the lower corona.

Abstract

Here we investigate the contribution of surface Alfven wave damping to the heating of the solar wind in minima conditions. These waves are present in regions of strong inhomogeneities in density or magnetic field (e. g., the border between open and closed magnetic field lines). Using a 3-dimensional Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) model, we calculate the surface Alfven wave damping contribution between 1-4 solar radii, the region of interest for both acceleration and coronal heating. We consider waves with frequencies lower than those that are damped in the chromosphere and on the order of those dominating the heliosphere. In the region between open and closed field lines, within a few solar radii of the surface, no other major source of damping has been suggested for the low frequency waves we consider here. This work is the first to study surface Alfven waves in a 3D environment without assuming a priori a geometry of field lines or magnetic and density profiles. We determine that waves with frequencies >2.8x10^-4 Hz are damped between 1-4 solar radii. In quiet sun regions, surface Alfven waves are damped at further distances compared to active regions, thus carrying additional wave energy into the corona. We compare the surface Alfven wave contribution to the heating by a variable polytropic index and find that it an order of magnitude larger than needed for quiet sun regions. For active regions the contribution to the heating is twenty percent. As it has been argued that a variable gamma acts as turbulence, our results indicate that surface Alfven wave damping is comparable to turbulence in the lower corona. This damping mechanism should be included self consistently as an energy driver for the wind in global MHD models.