Data-constrained magnetohydrodynamic simulation of global solar corona including solar wind effects within 2.5 $R_\odot$

TL;DR

This study presents a data-constrained MHD simulation of the solar corona during the 2024 April 8 total solar eclipse, incorporating solar wind effects and comparing results with observations to improve understanding of coronal structures.

Contribution

It introduces a novel, high-resolution MHD simulation including solar wind effects using observed magnetograms and detailed boundary conditions, advancing modeling of the solar corona during eclipses.

Findings

Successful reproduction of magnetic and velocity fields

Good agreement with eclipse observations in white-light and Fe XIV emissions

Provides a foundation for future CME triggering and acceleration studies

Abstract

Total solar eclipses (TSEs) provide a unique opportunity to observe the large-scale solar corona. The solar wind plays an important role in forming the large-scale coronal structure and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations are used to reproduce it for further studying coronal mass ejections (CMEs). We conduct a data-constrained MHD simulation of the global solar corona including solar wind effects of the 2024 April 8 TSE with observed magnetograms using the Message Passing Interface Adaptive Mesh Refinement Versatile Advection Code (MPI-AMRVAC) within 2.5 $R_\odot$. This TSE happened within the solar maximum, hence the global corona was highly structured. Our MHD simulation includes the energy equation with a reduced polytropic index $\gamma=1.05$. We compare the global magnetic field for multiple magnetograms and use synchronic frames from the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager to initialize the magnetic field configuration from a magneto-frictionally equilibrium solution, called the Outflow field. We detail the initial and boundary conditions employed to time-advance the full set of ideal MHD equations such that the global corona is relaxed to a steady state. The magnetic field, the velocity field, and distributions of the density and thermal pressure are successfully reproduced. We demonstrate direct comparisons with TSE images in white-light and Fe XIV emission augmented with quasi-separatrix layers, the integrated current density, and the synthetic white-light radiation, and find a good agreement between simulations and observations. This provides a fundamental background for future simulations to study the triggering and acceleration mechanisms of CMEs under solar wind effects.