Using sunRunner3D to interpret the global structure of the heliosphere from in situ measurements

TL;DR

This paper presents sunRunner3D, a 3D MHD model that simulates the inner heliosphere's structure, reproduces observed solar wind features, and compares its performance with other models for space weather forecasting.

Contribution

The study introduces sunRunner3D, a novel 3D MHD model that accurately simulates the large-scale heliosphere and compares its results with existing models and observations.

Findings

SR3D reproduces observed CIRs features.

Model solutions are valid in both corotating and inertial frames.

Reasonable agreement with in-situ measurements and comparable to MAS code.

Abstract

Understanding the large-scale three-dimensional structure of the inner heliosphere, while important in its own right, is crucial for space weather applications, such as forecasting the time of arrival and propagation of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). This study uses sunRunner3D (3D), a 3-D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model, to simulate solar wind (SW) streams and generate background states. SR3D employs the boundary conditions generated by CORona-HELiosphere (CORHEL) and the PLUTO code to compute the plasma properties of the SW with the MHD approximation up to 1.1 AU in the inner heliosphere. We demonstrate that SR3D reproduces global features of Corotating Interaction Regions (CIRs) observed by Earth-based spacecraft (OMNI) and the Solar TErrestial RElations Observatory (STEREO)-A for a set of Carrington rotations (CRs) that cover a period that lays in the late declining phase of solar cycle 24. Additionally, we demonstrate that the model solutions are valid in the corotating and inertial frames of references. Moreover, a comparison between SR3D simulations and in-situ measurements shows reasonable agreement with the observations, and our results are comparable to those achieved by Predictive Science Inc.'s Magnetohydrodynamic Algorithm outside a Sphere (MAS) code. We have also undertaken a comparative analysis with the Space Weather Adaptive Simulation Framework for Solar Wind (SWASTi-SW), a PLUTO physics-based model, to evaluate the precision of various initial boundary conditions. Finally, we discuss the disparities in the solutions derived from inertial and rotating frames.