SynCOM: An Empirical Model for High-Resolution Simulations of Transient Solar Wind Flows

TL;DR

SynCOM is an empirical model that generates synthetic high-resolution solar corona images to test and validate velocity measurement algorithms, aiding in understanding solar wind origins.

Contribution

It introduces a flexible platform for simulating coronal flows with stochastic elements, enabling validation of velocity measurement techniques against ground-truth data.

Findings

SynCOM effectively replicates observed coronal brightness variability.

It allows assessment of flow tracking method accuracy.

The model supports optimizing data analysis for solar wind studies.

Abstract

The Synthetic Corona Outflow Model (SynCOM), an empirical model, simulates the solar corona's dynamics to match high-resolution observations, providing a useful resource for testing velocity measurement algorithms. SynCOM generates synthetic images depicting radial variability in polarized brightness and includes stochastic elements for plasma outflows and instrumental noise. It employs a predefined flow velocity probability distribution and an adjustable signal-to-noise ratio to evaluate different data analysis methods for coronal flows. By adjusting parameters to match specific coronal and instrumental conditions, SynCOM offers a platform to assess these methods for determining coronal velocity and acceleration. Validating these measurements would help to understand solar wind origins and support missions such as the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH). In this study, we demonstrate how SynCOM can be employed to assess the precision and performance of two different flow tracking methods. By providing a ground-truth based on observational data, we highlight the importance of SynCOM in confirming observational standards for detecting coronal flows.