Torsional Alfv\'en waves in solar partially ionized plasma: effects of neutral helium and stratification

TL;DR

This study investigates how neutral helium and stratification affect the damping of torsional Alfvén waves in the solar chromosphere, revealing that wave frequency and plasma composition critically influence wave propagation and energy transfer.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new Cowling diffusion coefficient accounting for neutral helium, enhancing understanding of wave damping in stratified, partially ionized solar plasma.

Findings

Short-period (< 5 s) waves damp quickly in the chromospheric network.

Longer-period (> 5 s) waves become evanescent before reaching the transition region.

Low-frequency waves are evanescent; high-frequency waves are damped by ion-neutral collisions.

Abstract

Ion-neutral collisions may lead to the damping of Alfven waves in chromospheric and prominence plasmas. Neutral helium atoms enhance the damping in certain temperature interval, where the ratio of neutral helium and neutral hydrogen atoms is increased. Therefore, the height-dependence of ionization degrees of hydrogen and helium may influence the damping rate of Alfven waves. We aim to study the effect of neutral helium in the damping of Alfven waves in stratified partially ionized plasma of the solar chromosphere. We consider a magnetic flux tube, which is expanded up to 1000 km height and then becomes vertical due to merging with neighboring tubes, and study the dynamics of linear torsional Alfven waves in the presence of neutral hydrogen and neutral helium atoms. We start with three-fluid description of plasma and consequently derive single-fluid magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations for torsional Alfven waves. Thin flux tube approximation allows to obtain the dispersion relation of the waves in the lower part of tubes, while the spatial dependence of steady-state Alfven waves is governed by Bessel type equation in the upper part of tubes. Consecutive derivation of single-fluid MHD equations results in a new Cowling diffusion coefficient in the presence of neutral helium which is different from previously used one. We found that shorter-period (< 5 s) torsional Alfven waves damp quickly in the chromospheric network due to ion-neutral collision. On the other hand, longer-period (> 5 s) waves do not reach the transition region as they become evanescent at lower heights in the network cores. Propagation of torsional Alfven waves through the chromosphere into the solar corona should be considered with caution: low-frequency waves are evanescent due to the stratification, while high-frequency waves are damped due to ion neutral collisions.