Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 1994
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994aas...185.9206k&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, 185th AAS Meeting, #92.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 26, p.1472
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
1
Scientific paper
The fact that Alfven waves may play a significant role in the energy balance in solar coronal holes has been known for a number of years. A special attention has been given to these waves because they can transfer energy to large distances and deposit efficiently momentum in the background medium. It has been shown that non-WKB effects are important for Alfven waves with periods of the order of one day and longer, and that non-WKB Alfven waves are no more effective in acceleration of the solar wind than WKB waves. There are, however, some recently published papers which seem to indicate that Alfven waves with periods of the order of several minutes should be treated as non-WKB waves and that these waves exert a stronger acceleration force than WKB waves. To investigate the origin of these discrepancies, we have performed a series of parametric studies of the behavior of the waves under a variety of different conditions in solar coronal holes. The obtained results demonstrate that both Alfven wave reflection and the acceleration force due to the waves are strongly model dependent. The strongest reflection can be expected in models with the base temperatures higher than 10(6) K and with the base densities lower than 7 times 10(7) cm(-3) . However, the strongest acceleration force is expected in the models with the weakest reflection. This clearly indicates that linear non-WKB Alfven waves are always less effective in accelerating the plasma than WKB Alfven waves. Implications of this result for the heating in solar coronal holes and for the acceleration of the solar wind will be discussed.
Krogulec M.
Moore Robert L.
Musielak Zdzislaw E.
Nerney Steven F.
Suess Steve T.
No associations
LandOfFree
The Role of Alfven Waves in Solar Wind Acceleration does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The Role of Alfven Waves in Solar Wind Acceleration, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Role of Alfven Waves in Solar Wind Acceleration will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1322631