A data-driven MHD model of the weakly-ionized chromosphere

TL;DR

This paper introduces a data-driven MHD model for the weakly-ionized chromosphere, incorporating Cowling resistivity to study heating and magnetic reconnection during solar flares, with a focus on active region AR 11166.

Contribution

It presents a novel data-driven MHD model that includes anisotropic dissipation via Cowling resistivity for the weakly-ionized chromosphere.

Findings

Cowling resistivity significantly affects chromospheric heating and reconnection.

The model successfully simulates a C2.0 flare with a reconnection rate of 0.12.

Benchmark results validate the effectiveness of the model.

Abstract

The physics of the solar chromosphere is complex from both theoretical and modeling perspectives. The plasma temperature from the photosphere to corona increases from ~5,000 K to ~1 million K over a distance of only ~10,000 km from the chromosphere and the transition region. Certain regions of the solar atmosphere have sufficiently low temperature and ionization rates to be considered as weakly-ionized. In particular, this is true at the lower chromosphere. In this paper, we present an overview of our data-driven magnetohydrodynamics model for the weakly-ionized chromosphere and show a benchmark result. It utilizes the Cowling resistivity which is orders of magnitude greater than the Coulomb resistivity. Ohm's law therefore includes anisotropic dissipation. We investigate the effects of the Cowling resistivity on heating and magnetic reconnection in the chromosphere as the flare-producing active region (AR) 11166 evolves. In particular, we analyze a C2.0 flare emerging from AR11166 and find a normalized reconnection rate of 0.12.