The spatial damping of magnetohydrodynamic waves in a flowing partially ionised prominence plasma

TL;DR

This paper investigates how magnetohydrodynamic waves are spatially damped in flowing, partially ionised prominence plasmas, considering various wave types and physical effects to understand wave attenuation.

Contribution

It presents a detailed analysis of the spatial damping of non-adiabatic MHD waves in flowing, partially ionised prominence plasmas, including effects like radiation, conduction, and heating.

Findings

Damping length varies with wave type and period.

The damping length to wavelength ratio depends on plasma parameters.

Different wave modes exhibit distinct damping behaviors.

Abstract

Solar prominences are partially ionised plasmas displaying flows and oscillations. These oscillations show time and spatial damping and, commonly, have been explained in terms of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves. We study the spatial damping of linear non-adiabatic MHD waves in a flowing partially ionised plasma, having prominence-like physical properties. We consider single fluid equations for a partially ionised hydrogen plasma including in the energy equation optically thin radiation, thermal conduction by electrons and neutrals, and heating. Keeping the frequency real and fixed, we have solved the obtained dispersion relations for the complex wavenumber, k, and have analysed the behaviour of the damping length, wavelength and the ratio of the damping length to the wavelength, versus period, for Alfven, fast, slow and thermal waves.