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Register a new userThe solar wind from a stellar perspective: how do low-resolution data impact the determination of wind properties?
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Added by
Sudeshna Boro Saikia
Publication date
2020
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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Alfven-wave-driven 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models, which are increasingly used to predict stellar wind properties, contain unconstrained parameters and rely on low-resolution stellar magnetograms. We explore the effects of the input Alfven wave energy flux and the surface magnetogram on the wind properties predicted by the Alfven Wave Solar Model (AWSoM). We lowered the resolution of two solar magnetograms during solar cycle maximum and minimum using spherical harmonic decomposition. The Alfven wave energy was altered based on non-thermal velocities determined from a far ultraviolet (FUV) spectrum of the solar twin 18 Sco. Additionally, low-resolution magnetograms of three solar analogues were obtained using Zeeman Doppler imaging (ZDI). Finally, the simulated wind properties were compared to Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) observations. AWSoM simulations using well constrained input parameters taken from solar observations can reproduce the observed solar wind mass and angular momentum loss rates. The resolution of the magnetogram has a small impact on the wind properties and only during cycle maximum. However, variation in Alfven wave energy influences the wind properties irrespective of the solar cycle activity level. Furthermore, solar wind simulations carried out using the low-resolution magnetogram of the three stars instead of the solar magnetogram could lead to an order of a magnitude difference in the simulated wind properties. The choice in Alfven energy has a stronger influence on the wind output compared to the magnetogram resolution. The influence could be even stronger for stars whose input boundary conditions are not as well constrained as those of the Sun. Unsurprisingly, replacing the solar magnetogram with a stellar magnetogram could lead to completely inaccurate solar wind properties, and should be avoided in solar and stellar wind simulations.
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Stellar winds govern the angular momentum evolution of solar-like stars throughout their main-sequence lifetime. The efficiency of this process depends on the geometry of the stars magnetic field. There has been a rapid increase recently in the number of stars for which this geometry can be determined through spectropolarimetry. We present a computationally efficient method to determine the 3D geometry of the stellar wind and to estimate the mass loss rate and angular momentum loss rate based on these observations. Using solar magnetograms as examples, we quantify the extent to which the values obtained are affected by the limited spatial resolution of stellar observations. We find that for a typical stellar surface resolution of 20$^{rm o}$-30$^{rm o}$, predicted wind speeds are within 5$%$ of the value at full resolution. Mass loss rates and angular momentum loss rates are within 5-20$%$. In contrast, the predicted X-ray emission measures can be under-estimated by 1-2 orders of magnitude, and their rotational modulations by 10-20$%$.
The fast solar winds high speeds and nonthermal features require that significant heating occurs well above the Suns surface. Two leading theories have seemed incompatible: low-frequency Alfvenic turbulence, which transports energy outwards but struggles to explain the observed dominance of ion over electron heating; and high-frequency ion-cyclotron waves (ICWs), which explain the heating but lack an obvious source. We unify these paradigms via the novel helicity barrier mechanism. Using six-dimensional plasma simulations, we show that in imbalanced turbulence (as relevant to the solar wind) the helicity barrier limits electron heating by inhibiting the turbulent cascade of energy to the smallest scales. The large-scale energy grows in time to eventually generate high-frequency fluctuations from low-frequency turbulence, driving ion heating by ICWs. The resulting turbulence and ion distribution function provide a compelling match to in-situ observations from Parker Solar Probe and other spacecraft, explaining, among other features, the steep transition range in the magnetic spectrum.
In this work, we simulate the evolution of the solar wind along its main sequence lifetime and compute its thermal radio emission. To study the evolution of the solar wind, we use a sample of solar mass stars at different ages. All these stars have observationally-reconstructed magnetic maps, which are incorporated in our 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations of their winds. We show that angular-momentum loss and mass-loss rates decrease steadily on evolutionary timescales, although they can vary in a magnetic cycle timescale. Stellar winds are known to emit radiation in the form of thermal bremsstrahlung in the radio spectrum. To calculate the expected radio fluxes from these winds, we solve the radiative transfer equation numerically from first principles. We compute continuum spectra across the frequency range 100 MHz - 100 GHz and find maximum radio flux densities ranging from 0.05 - 8.3 $mu$Jy. At a frequency of 1 GHz and a normalised distance of d = 10 pc, the radio flux density follows 0.24 $(Omega/Omega_{odot})^{0.9}$ (d/[10pc])$^2$ $mu$Jy, where $Omega$ is the rotation rate. This means that the best candidates for stellar wind observations in the radio regime are faster rotators within distances of 10 pc, such as $kappa^1$ Ceti (2.83 $mu$Jy) and $chi^1$ Ori (8.3 $mu$Jy). These flux predictions provide a guide to observing solar-type stars across the frequency range 0.1 - 100 GHz in the future using the next generation of radio telescopes, such as ngVLA and SKA.
Observations of surface magnetic fields are now within reach for many stellar types thanks to the development of Zeeman-Doppler Imaging. These observations are extremely useful for constraining rotational evolution models of stars, as well as for characterizing the generation of magnetic field. We recently demonstrated that the impact of coronal magnetic field topology on the rotational braking of a star can be parametrized with a scalar parameter: the open magnetic flux. However, without running costly numerical simulations of the stellar wind, reconstructing the coronal structure of the large scale magnetic field is not trivial. An alternative -broadly used in solar physics- is to extrapolate the surface magnetic field assuming a potential field in the corona, to describe the opening of the field lines by the magnetized wind. This technique relies on the definition of a so-called source surface radius, which is often fixed to the canonical value of 2.5Rsun. However this value likely varies from star to star. To resolve this issue, we use our extended set of 2.5D wind simulations published in 2015, to provide a criteria for the opening of field lines as well as a simple tool to assess the source surface radius and the open magnetic flux. This allows us to derive the magnetic torque applied to the star by the wind from any spectropolarimetric observation. We conclude by discussing some estimations of spin-down time scales made using our technique, and compare them to observational requirements.
In the near future, Parker Solar Probe will put theories about the dynamics and nature of the transition between the solar corona and the solar wind to stringent tests. The most popular mechanism aimed to explain the dynamics of the nascent solar wind, including its heating and acceleration is magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. Most of the previous models focus on nonlinear cascade induced by interactions of outgoing Alfven waves and their reflections, ignoring effects that might be related to perpendicular structuring of the solar coronal plasma, despite overwhelming evidence for it. In this paper, for the first time, we analyse through 3D MHD numerical simulations the dynamics of the perpendicularly structured solar corona and solar wind, from the low corona to 15 R_Sun. We find that background structuring has a strong effect on the evolution of MHD turbulence, on much faster time scales than in the perpendicularly homogeneous case. On time scales shorter than nonlinear times, linear effects related to phase mixing result in a 1/f perpendicular energy spectrum. As the turbulent cascade develops, we observe a perpendicular (parallel) energy spectrum with the power law index of -3/2 or -5/3 (-2), a steeper perpendicular magnetic field than velocity spectrum, and a strong build-up of negative residual energy. We conclude that the turbulence is most probably generated by the self-cascade of the driven transverse kink waves, referred to previously as `uniturbulence, which might represent the dominant nonlinear energy cascade channel in the pristine solar wind.
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