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Magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) Alfven waves have been a focus of laboratory plasma physics and astrophysics for over half a century. Their unique nature makes them ideal energy transporters, and while the solar atmosphere provides preferential conditions for their existence, direct detection has proved difficult as a result of their evolving and dynamic observational signatures. The viability of Alfven waves as a heating mechanism relies upon the efficient dissipation and thermalization of the wave energy, with direct evidence remaining elusive until now. Here we provide the first observational evidence of Alfven waves heating chromospheric plasma in a sunspot umbra through the formation of shock fronts. The magnetic field configuration of the shock environment, alongside the tangential velocity signatures, distinguish them from conventional umbral flashes. Observed local temperature enhancements of 5% are consistent with the dissipation of mode-converted Alfven waves driven by upwardly propagating magneto-acoustic oscillations, providing an unprecedented insight into the behaviour of Alfven waves in the solar atmosphere and beyond.
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Physical processes which may lead to solar chromospheric heating are analyzed using high-resolution 1.5D non-ideal MHD modelling. We demonstrate that it is possible to heat the chromospheric plasma by direct resistive dissipation of high-frequency Alfven waves through Pedersen resistivity. However this is unlikely to be sufficient to balance radiative and conductive losses unless unrealistic field strengths or photospheric velocities are used. The precise heating profile is determined by the input driving spectrum since in 1.5D there is no possibility of Alfven wave turbulence. The inclusion of the Hall term does not affect the heating rates. If plasma compressibility is taken into account, shocks are produced through the ponderomotive coupling of Alfven waves to slow modes and shock heating dominates the resistive dissipation. In 1.5D shock coalescence amplifies the effects of shocks and for compressible simulations with realistic driver spectra the heating rate exceeds that required to match radiative and conductive losses. Thus while the heating rates for these 1.5D simulations are an overestimate they do show that ponderomotive coupling of Alfven waves to sound waves is more important in chromospheric heating than Pedersen dissipation through ion-neutral collisions.
A three-dimensional MHD model for the propagation and dissipation of Alfven waves in a coronal loop is developed. The model includes the lower atmospheres at the two ends of the loop. The waves originate on small spatial scales (less than 100 km) inside the kilogauss flux elements in the photosphere. The model describes the nonlinear interactions between Alfven waves using the reduced MHD approximation. The increase of Alfven speed with height in the chromosphere and transition region (TR) causes strong wave reflection, which leads to counter-propagating waves and turbulence in the photospheric and chromospheric parts of the flux tube. Part of the wave energy is transmitted through the TR and produces turbulence in the corona. We find that the hot coronal loops typically found in active regions can be explained in terms of Alfven wave turbulence, provided the small-scale footpoint motions have velocities of 1-2 km/s and time scales of 60-200 s. The heating rate per unit volume in the chromosphere is 2 to 3 orders of magnitude larger than that in the corona. We construct a series of models with different values of the model parameters, and find that the coronal heating rate increases with coronal field strength and decreases with loop length. We conclude that coronal loops and the underlying chromosphere may both be heated by Alfvenic turbulence.
We present two-dimensional simulations of wave propagation in a realistic, non-stationary model of the solar atmosphere. This model shows a granular velocity field and magnetic flux concentrations in the intergranular lanes similar to observed velocity and magnetic structures on the Sun and takes radiative transfer into account. We present three cases of magneto-acoustic wave propagation through the model atmosphere, where we focus on the interaction of different magneto-acoustic wave at the layer of similar sound and Alfven speeds, which we call the equipartition layer. At this layer the acoustic and magnetic mode can exchange energy depending on the angle between the wave vector and the magnetic field vector. Our results show that above the equipartition layer and in all three cases the fast magnetic mode is refracted back into the solar atmosphere. Thus, the magnetic wave shows an evanescent behavior in the chromosphere. The acoustic mode, which travels along the magnetic field in the low plasma-$beta$ regime, can be a direct consequence of an acoustic source within or outside the low-$beta$ regime, or it can result from conversion of the magnetic mode, possibly from several such
M dwarfs atmosphere is expected to be highly magnetized. The magnetic energy can be responsible for heating the stellar chromosphere and corona, and driving the stellar wind. The nonlinear propagation of Alfven wave is the promising mechanism for both heating stellar atmosphere and driving stellar wind. Based on this Alfven wave scenario, we carried out the one-dimensional compressive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation to reproduce the stellar atmospheres and winds of TRAPPIST-1, Proxima Centauri, YZ CMi, AD Leo, AX Mic, as well as the Sun. The nonlinear propagation of Alfven wave from the stellar photosphere to chromosphere, corona, and interplanetary space is directly resolved in our study. The simulation result particularly shows that the slow shock generated through the nonlinear mode coupling of Alfven wave is crucially involved in both dynamics of stellar chromosphere (stellar spicule) and stellar wind acceleration. Our parameter survey further revealed the following general trends of physical quantities of stellar atmosphere and wind. (1) The M dwarfs coronae tend to be cooler and denser than solar corona. (2) M dwarfs stellar winds can be characterized with relatively faster velocity and much smaller mass-loss rate compared to those of solar wind. The physical mechanisms behind these tendencies are clarified in this paper, where the stronger stratification of M dwarfs atmosphere and relatively smaller Alfven wave energy input from the M dwarfs photosphere are remarkable.
Observations have shown that magnetohydrodynamic waves over a large frequency range are ubiquitous in solar prominences. The waves are probably driven by photospheric motions and may transport energy up to prominences suspended in the corona. Dissipation of wave energy can lead to heating of the cool prominence plasma, so contributing to the local energy balance within the prominence. Here we discuss the role of Alfven wave dissipation as a heating mechanism for the prominence plasma. We consider a slab-like quiescent prominence model with a transverse magnetic field embedded in the solar corona. The prominence medium is modelled as a partially ionized plasma composed of a charged ion-electron single fluid and two separate neutral fluids corresponding to neutral hydrogen and neutral helium. Friction between the three fluids acts as a dissipative mechanism for the waves. The heating caused by externally-driven Alfven waves incident on the prominence slab is analytically explored. We find that the dense prominence slab acts as a resonant cavity for the waves. The fraction of incident wave energy that is channelled into the slab strongly depends upon the wave period, $P$. Using typical prominence conditions, we obtain that wave energy trapping and associated heating are negligible when $P gtrsim 100$ s, so that it is unlikely that those waves have a relevant influence on prominence energetics. When $1$ s $lesssim P lesssim 100$ s the energy absorption into the slab shows several sharp and narrow peaks, that can reach up to 100%, when the incident wave frequency matches a cavity resonance of the slab. Wave heating is enhanced at those resonant frequencies. Conversely, when $P lesssim 1$ s cavity resonances are absent, but the waves are heavily damped by the strong dissipation. We estimate that wave heating may compensate for about 10% of radiative losses of the prominence plasma.
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