Physics – Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufmsh42b..01p&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #SH42B-01
Physics
Plasma Physics
[7500] Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy, [7511] Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy / Coronal Holes, [7827] Space Plasma Physics / Kinetic And Mhd Theory, [7863] Space Plasma Physics / Turbulence
Scientific paper
Most of the fluctuation energy in the solar wind inside of 1 AU originates from Alfven waves (AWs) launched by the Sun, which propagate along open magnetic field lines through coronal holes and then on into the interplanetary medium. The majority of the fluctuation energy is at sufficiently large scales that the fluctuations can be described within the framework of reduced magnetohydrodynamics (RMHD). In RMHD, the cascade of AW energy from large scales to small scales results only from the nonlinear interactions between counter-propagating AWs, not from interactions between waves propagating in the same direction. Because the Sun launches only outward propagating waves, a source of inward propagating waves is required in order for the system to become turbulent. Inhomogeneities in the near-sun region can provide a significant source of such inward propagating fluctuations through the non-WKB reflection of the outgoing waves. In this work we present results from high resolution numerical simulations of AW turbulence in the extended solar atmosphere that accounts for the inhomogeneities in the density, solar wind speed, and background magnetic field, without relying upon simplified phenomenological models of the underlying physical equations describing the turbulence. We discuss the radial dependence of the inward and outward AW power spectra, energy cascade rates, and other important turbulence characteristics in the context of existing phenomenological models and remote observations.
Chandran Benjamin D.
Perez Jean Carlos
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