Modeling the slow solar wind during the solar minimum

TL;DR

This paper models the slow solar wind during solar minimum using a three-fluid approach, comparing the results with STEREO and SOHO/UVCS observations to understand its structure and properties.

Contribution

It introduces a three-fluid model including heavy ions to simulate the slow solar wind during solar minimum, validated against observational data.

Findings

Model reproduces the streamer density structure observed by STEREO.

O VI emission from the model matches SOHO/UVCS observations.

The solar wind properties in the model are consistent with observed features.

Abstract

During the solar minimum STEREO observations show that the three-dimensional structure of the solar corona can be described well by a tilted bi-polar magnetic configuration. The slow solar wind is modeled using three-fluid model that includes heavy ions, such as He II and O VI. The model is initialized with dipole magnetic field and spherically symmetric density. The resulting steady state non-potential and non-uniform streamer configuration calculated with this model is compared to STEREO observations of the streamer density structure. SOHO/UVCS observations are used to compare the O VI emission to model results. We discuss the unique properties of the solar wind produced in this configuration.