Internal Gravity Waves in the Magnetized Solar Atmosphere. I. Magnetic Field Effects

TL;DR

This study investigates how magnetic fields in the solar atmosphere influence internal gravity waves, showing that magnetic flux suppresses these waves through mode coupling and vortex interactions, based on realistic simulations.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed comparison of hydrodynamic and MHD simulations to analyze magnetic effects on solar internal gravity waves.

Findings

Magnetic fields suppress internal gravity waves in the upper photosphere.

Wave coupling to slow magneto-acoustic waves causes partial reflection.

Vortex flows may also contribute to wave suppression.

Abstract

Observations of the solar atmosphere show that internal gravity waves are generated by overshooting convection, but are suppressed at locations of magnetic flux, which is thought to be the result of mode conversion into magneto-acoustic waves. Here, we present a study of the acoustic-gravity wave spectrum emerging from a realistic, self-consistent simulation of solar (magneto-)convection. A magnetic field free, hydrodynamic simulation and a magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) simulation with an initial, vertical, homogeneous field of 50 G flux density were carried out and compared with each other to highlight the effect of magnetic fields on the internal gravity wave propagation in the Sun's atmosphere. We find that the internal gravity waves are absent or partially reflected back into the lower layers in the presence of magnetic fields and argue that the suppression is due to the coupling of internal gravity waves to slow magneto acoustic waves still within the high-beta region of the upper photosphere. The conversion to Alfven waves is highly unlikely in our model because there is no strongly inclined magnetic field present. We argue that the suppression of internal waves observed within magnetic flux-concentrations may also be due to non-linear breaking of internal waves due to vortex flows that are ubiquitously present in the upper photosphere and the chromosphere.