Density fluctuation in the solar corona and solar wind: A comparative analysis of radio-occultation observations and magnetohydrodynamic simulation

TL;DR

This study compares radio occultation observations of solar corona density fluctuations with MHD simulations to identify wave modes, revealing the presence of both fast and slow magnetoacoustic waves and their spectral characteristics.

Contribution

It provides the first observational confirmation of fast and slow magnetoacoustic waves in the solar corona at distances closer than 10 R⊙ by comparing radio occultation data with MHD models.

Findings

Density fluctuations include both fast and slow magnetoacoustic waves.

Fast waves dominate at short periods, slow waves at long periods.

Spectral analysis shows similarities between observations and MHD simulations.

Abstract

Recent in-situ observations and numerical models indicated various types of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves contributing to the solar wind acceleration. Among them is an MHD wave decomposition at distances closer than 50 $R_{\odot}$ using data taken by the first perihelion pass of Parker Solar Probe (PSP). However, the underlying physical processes responsible for the formation of the solar wind have not yet been observationally confirmed at distances closer than 10 $R_{\odot}$. We aim to infer the mode population of density fluctuations observed by radio occultation, which has all been attributed to slow magnetoacoustic waves. We compare the radio occultation observations conducted in 2016 using the JAXA's Venus orbiter Akatsuki with the MHD simulation. The time-frequency analysis was applied to the density fluctuations observed by the radio occultation and those reproduced in the MHD model. The time-spatial spectrum of the density fluctuation in the model exhibits two components that are considered to be fast and slow magnetoacoustic waves. The fast magnetoacoustic waves in the model tend to have periods shorter than the slow magnetoacoustic waves, and the superposition of these modes has a broadened spectrum extending in the range of approximately 20$-$1000 s, which resembles that of the observed waves. Based on this comparison, it is probable that the density oscillations observed by radio occultation include fast and slow magnetoacoustic waves, and that fast magnetoacoustic waves are predominant at short periods and slow magnetoacoustic waves are prevalent at long periods. This is qualitatively similar to the results of the mode decomposition obtained from the PSP's first perihelion at more distance regions.