Multi-Fluid Simulations of Upper Chromospheric Magnetic Reconnection with Helium-Hydrogen mixture

TL;DR

This study uses multi-fluid simulations to explore magnetic reconnection in the upper chromosphere, highlighting the importance of helium-hydrogen interactions and their effects on heating and plasma dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a multi-fluid helium-hydrogen model for chromospheric magnetic reconnection, revealing effects not captured by simpler two-fluid models.

Findings

Helium enhances heating efficiency during reconnection.

Simulations reach transition region temperatures from chromospheric conditions.

Helium enrichment may occur in solar wind outflows.

Abstract

Our understanding of magnetic reconnection (MR) under chromospheric conditions remains limited. Recent observations have demonstrated the important role of ion-neutral interactions in the dynamics of the chromosphere. Furthermore, the comparison between spectral profiles and synthetic observations of reconnection events suggest that current MHD approaches appear to be inconsistent with observations. First, collisions and multi-thermal aspects of the plasma play a role in these regions. Second, hydrogen and helium ionization effects are relevant to the energy balance of the chromosphere. This work investigates multi-fluid multi-species (MFMS) effects on MR in conditions representative of the upper chromosphere using the multi-fluid Ebysus code. We compare an MFMS approach based on a helium-hydrogen mixture with a two-fluid MHD model based on hydrogen only. The simulations of MRs are performed in a Lundquist number regime high enough to develop plasmoids and instabilities. We study the evolution of the MR and compare the two approaches including the structure of the current sheet and plasmoids, the decoupling of the particles, the evolution of the heating mechanisms, and the composition. The presence of helium species leads to more efficient heating mechanisms than the two-fluid case. This scenario, which is out of reach of the two-fluid or single-fluid models, can reach transition region temperatures starting from upper chromospheric thermodynamic conditions, representative of a quiet Sun scenario. The different dynamics between helium and hydrogen species could lead to chemical fractionation and, under certain conditions, enrichment of helium in the strongest outflows. This could be of significance for recent observations of helium enrichment in the solar wind in switchbacks and CMEs.