Some constraints on acceleration mechanisms in the solar wind at polar latitudes

Details Some constraints on acceleration mechanisms in the solar wind at polar latitudes Some constraints on acceleration mechanisms in the solar wind at polar latitudes

Jul 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996aipc..382...50b&link_type=abstract

Proceedings of the eigth international solar wind conference: Solar wind eight. AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 382, pp. 50-

Computer Science

Particle Emission, Solar Wind, Magnetohydrodynamics And Plasmas

Scientific paper

Observations of solar Lyman α have been interpreted as indicating that the solar wind mass flux density is lower at polar latitudes than at equatorial latitudes. This led Lallement et al. [1986] to make a parametric study of solar wind acceleration, along the lines of the earlier Munro-Jackson study [1977], in which they concluded that uncertainties in the polar mass flux were large enough to be consistent with two extreme opposites: (1) a substantial energy supply beyond classical thermal conduction is required, or (2) classical thermal conduction is adequate to drive the flow. This ambiguity has been clarified by Ulysses observations of the polar outflow [Phillips et al., 1995]. The polar mass flux density lies near or somewhat above the middle of the range studies by Lallement et al. [1986], which indicates that extended heating is likely to be going on out to at least ~5 solar radii. Independent, purely energetic arguments can be made to estimate the required coronal source (electron) temperature that would be required to account for the observed energy flux density. An electron temperature of well above 2×106 K would be required for the classical conduction flux density to be comparable to the total energy flux density; such a high temperature is unlikely in a coronal hole. These arguments strongly suggest that some extended heating or momentum transfer mechanism is required to drive the solar wind from the polar coronal hole.

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