Surface alfvén wave damping in a three-dimensional simulation of the solar wind

Abstract

Here we investigate the contribution of surface Alfvén wave damping to the heating of the solar wind in minima conditions. These waves are present in the regions of strong inhomogeneities in density or magnetic field (e.g., the border between open and closed magnetic field lines). Using a three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) model, we calculate the surface Alfvén wave damping contribution between 1 and 4 R⊙ (solar radii), the region of interest for both acceleration and coronal heating. We consider waves with frequencies lower than those that are damped in the chromosphere and on the order of those dominating the heliosphere: 3 × 10-6 to 10 -1 Hz. In the region between open and closed field lines, within a few R̊ of the surface, no other major source of damping has been suggested for the low frequency waves we consider here. This work is the first to study surface Alfvén waves in a 3D environment without assuming a priori a geometry of field lines or magnetic and density profiles. We demonstrate that projection effects from the plane of the sky to 3D are significant in the calculation of field line expansion. We determine that waves with frequencies >2.8 ×10-4 Hz are damped between 1 and 4 R ̊. In quiet-Sun regions, surface Alfvén waves are damped at further distances compared to active regions, thus carrying additional wave energy into the corona. We compare the surface Alfvén wave contribution to the heating by a variable polytropic index and find it as an order of magnitude larger than needed for quiet-Sun regions. For active regions, the contribution to the heating is 20%. As it has been argued that a variable gamma acts as turbulence, our results indicate that surface Alfvén wave damping is comparable to turbulence in the lower corona. This damping mechanism should be included self-consistently as an energy driver for the wind in global MHD models. © 2009. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.