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How Alfvén waves energize the solar wind: heat versus work

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2021

Jean C. Perez*
Affiliation:
Department of Aerospace, Physics and Space Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, 32901, USA
Benjamin D. G. Chandran
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, 03824, USA
Kristopher G. Klein
Affiliation:
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
Mihailo M. Martinović
Affiliation:
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA Laboratoire d'Etudes Spatiales et d'Instrumentation en Astrophysique, Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France
*
Email address for correspondence: jcperez@fit.edu
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Abstract

A growing body of evidence suggests that the solar wind is powered to a large extent by an Alfvén-wave (AW) energy flux. AWs energize the solar wind via two mechanisms: heating and work. We use high-resolution direct numerical simulations of reflection-driven AW turbulence (RDAWT) in a fast-solar-wind stream emanating from a coronal hole to investigate both mechanisms. In particular, we compute the fraction of the AW power at the coronal base ($P_\textrm {AWb}$) that is transferred to solar-wind particles via heating between the coronal base and heliocentric distance $r$, which we denote by $\chi _{H}(r)$, and the fraction that is transferred via work, which we denote by $\chi _{W}(r)$. We find that $\chi _{W}(r_{A})$ ranges from 0.15 to 0.3, where $r_{A}$ is the Alfvén critical point. This value is small compared with one because the Alfvén speed $v_{A}$ exceeds the outflow velocity $U$ at $r < r_{A}$, so the AWs race through the plasma without doing much work. At $r>r_{A}$, where $v_{A} < U$, the AWs are in an approximate sense ‘stuck to the plasma’, which helps them do pressure work as the plasma expands. However, much of the AW power has dissipated by the time the AWs reach $r=r_{A}$, so the total rate at which AWs do work on the plasma at $r>r_{A}$ is a modest fraction of $P_\textrm {AWb}$. We find that heating is more effective than work at $r < r_{A}$, with $\chi _{H}(r_{A})$ ranging from 0.5 to 0.7. The reason that $\chi _{H} \geq 0.5$ in our simulations is that an appreciable fraction of the local AW power dissipates within each Alfvén-speed scale height in RDAWT, and there are a few Alfvén-speed scale heights between the coronal base and $r_{A}$. A given amount of heating produces more magnetic moment in regions of weaker magnetic field. Thus, paradoxically, the average proton magnetic moment increases robustly with increasing $r$ at $r>r_{A}$, even though the total rate at which AW energy is transferred to particles at $r>r_{A}$ is a small fraction of $P_\textrm {AWb}$.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press
Figure 0

Table 1. Relevant simulation parameters. At the photosphere: $\tau ^+_{c,p}$ is the correlation time of velocity fluctuations imposed at $r=R_\odot$. At the coronal base: $\tau ^+_{c,p}$ is the correlation time of outward-propagating AWs ($z^+$), $L_{\perp ,b}$ is the perpendicular box length, $z^+_{\textrm {rms}}$ is the r.m.s. amplitude of AWs injected at the base, and $v_\textrm {rms,b}$ is the bulk velocity r.m.s.

Figure 1

Figure 1. Fractions of the Sun's AW power injected at the base $\chi _{H}(r)$ (solid) and $\chi _{W}(r)$ (dashed) that are transferred to solar-wind particles via heating and work, respectively, between the coronal base and heliocentric distance $r$. Here $P_\textrm {AW}/P_\textrm {AWb}$ (dashed-dotted) is the fraction of the power that remains at each heliocentric distance $r$. These fractions are evaluated for Run 1, Run 2 and Run 3 using the expressions in § 2.1 and for the CH09 analytic model (lower-right panel) using the expressions in § 3.2. All four panels are computed using the $n(r)$, $B_0(r)$ and $U(r)$ profiles in (3.2) through (3.4). The green dotted lines represent the sum of the three fractions, which owing to energy conservation equals one in steady state. Small deviations from one in the numerical simulations are due primarily to averaging over a finite number of realizations rather than a full ensemble representing a true statistical state.

Figure 2

Table 2. Glossary of relevant quantities and their numerical values.

Figure 3

Figure 2. (a) The ratio of the heating rate $Q$ to the rate at which AWs do work on the flow per unit volume, $|U \,\text {d} p_{w}/\text {d} r-\sigma \mathcal {E}_{R}|$, as a function of heliocentric distance $r$. Heating is much more efficient than work close to the Sun, but at $r>r_{A} = 11.1R_{\odot }$, work becomes slightly more efficient than heating. Right panel: The average proton magnetic moment, $k_{B} T_{\perp p}/B$, as a function of heliocentric distance $r$, computed using (3.8), (3.9), (3.10), (3.22), (3.2), (3.3) and (3.4), with $f_{\perp p} =0.9$, $z^+_\textrm {rms,b} = 72\ \text {km}\, \text {s}^{-1}$ and $T_{\perp pb} = 10^6\ \text {K}$.