Multifluid modeling of magnetosonic wave propagation in the solar chromosphere -- effects of impact ionization and radiative recombination

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new multi-fluid computational model to study magnetosonic wave propagation in the partially ionized solar chromosphere, incorporating ionization, recombination, and ion-neutral interactions for the first time.

Contribution

It develops a novel multi-fluid model that includes ionization and recombination effects, enabling more accurate simulations of wave dynamics in the chromosphere.

Findings

Ion-neutral interactions significantly affect wave propagation.

Steepening of fast magnetosonic waves leads to plasma heating.

Chemical non-equilibrium impacts wave energy dissipation.

Abstract

In order to study chromospheric magnetosonic wave propagation including, for the first time, the effects of ion-neutral interactions in the partially ionized solar chromosphere, we have developed a new multi-fluid computational model, accounting for ionization and recombination reactions in gravitationally stratified magnetized collisional media. The two-fluid model used in our 2D numerical simulations treats neutrals as a separate fluid and considers charged species (electrons and ions) within the resistive MHD approach with Coulomb collisions and anisotropic heat flux determined by Braginskii's transport coefficients. The electromagnetic fields are evolved according to the full Maxwell equations and the solenoidality of the magnetic field is enforced with a hyperbolic divergence cleaning scheme. The initial density and temperature profiles are similar to VAL III chromospheric model in which dynamical, thermal and chemical equilibrium are considered to ensure comparison to existing MHD models and avoid artificial numerical heating. In this initial setup we include simple homogeneous flux tube magnetic field configuration and an external photospheric velocity driver to simulate the propagation of MHD waves in the partially ionized reactive chromosphere. In particular, we investigate the loss of chemical equilibrium and the plasma heating related to the steepening of fast magnetosonic wave fronts in the gravitationally stratified medium.