An MHD Model with Wave Turbulence Driven Heating and

Solar Wind Acceleration

Roberto Lionello1
Jon A. Linker1
Zoran Mikić1
Pete Riley1
Marco Velli2
lionel@predsci.com, linkerj@predsci.com, mikicz@predsci.com,

pete@predsci.com, mvelli@jpl.nasa.gov

1 2

AAS/SPD 2010 Meeting Miami, FL – p. 1

 Summary

• The mechanisms responsible for heating the Sun’s corona and accelerating the
solar wind are still being actively investigated.
• It is largely accepted that photospheric motions provide the energy source and
that the magnetic field must play a key role in the process.
• Three-dimensional MHD models have traditionally used an empirical prescription
for coronal heating (e.g., Lionello et al. 2009), together with WKB Alfvén wave
acceleration of the solar wind.
• In wave turbulence driven models (e.g., Cranmer et al. 2007; Cranmer 2010)
heating and solar wind acceleration by Alfvén waves are included
self-consistently.
• We demonstrate the initial implementation of this idea in an MHD model based
on turbulent cascade heating in the closed-field regions (Rappazzo et al. 2007,
2008), and Alfvén wave turbulent dissipation in open field regions (Verdini & Velli
2007, 2010).

AAS/SPD 2010 Meeting Miami, FL – p. 2

 The Thermodynamic MHD Model

∇×A = B,
∂A c2 η
= v×B− ∇ × B,
∂t 4π
∂ρ
+ ∇·(ρv) = 0,
∂t
„ «
1 ∂T
+ v · ∇T = −T ∇ · v
γ − 1 ∂t
mp
− (∇ · q + ne np Q(T ) − Hch ),
2kρ
„ «
∂v ∇×B×B
ρ + v·∇v = − ∇p − ∇pw + ρg + ∇ · (νρ∇v),
∂t 4π
γ = 5/3,
(
−κ0 T 5/2 b̂b̂ · ∇T if R⊙ ≤ r . 10R⊙
q = ,
αne kT v if r & 10R⊙

AAS/SPD 2010 Meeting Miami, FL – p. 3

 Wave Propagation and Dissipation

• Alfvén and acoustic waves are propagated into the corona by specifying a wave
flux at the coronal base.
• These waves interact with the plasma and dissipate in open and closed field
regions, accelerating and heating the solar wind.
• For convenience we split the wave energy density ǫ = hδB 2 i/4π into two fields,
ǫr and ǫb :

3/2
∂ǫr,b 1 Cαǫr,b n
+ ∇ · Fr,b = v · ∇ǫr,b − √ − D (ǫr ǫb )
∂t 2 λ⊥ ρ
„ «
3
Fr,b = v ± vA b̂ ǫr,b
2

• The total energy density is given by ǫ = ǫr + ǫb

• 1
The wave pressure is pw = 2
ǫ
3/2
P Cαǫr,b ` ´n
• The wave heating is Hch = √
r,b λ⊥ ρ + D ǫr,b ǫb,r

AAS/SPD 2010 Meeting Miami, FL – p. 4

 Wave Propagation and Dissipation: Open Field

• How do we get the Open Field term? We assume that Alfvén waves are injected
from the solar surface, reflected, and dissipated through Kolmogorov turbulence,
heating thus the solar wind.

Positive open
field line z+ z+
Negative open
Reflection field line
z− z−
Dissipation
z+ z+
Injection

• Why Kolmogorov? Because turbulence develops orthogonally to the mean field

and the Kraichnan/Alfvén effect of crossing eddies is not important.

AAS/SPD 2010 Meeting Miami, FL – p. 5

 Wave Propagation and Dissipation: Open Field (2)

• Energy dissipation per unit mass for Kolmogorov turbulence is (Dmitruk et al.
2001):
|z − ||z + |2 + |z + ||z − |2 α|z + |3
P= ≃ ,
2λ⊥ 2λ⊥

where the Elsässer variables z± are expressed in terms of perturbed

incompressible velocity δv and transverse magnetic field δB⊥ :

δB⊥
z± = δv ∓ sign(B) √ ,
4πρ

and the non-linear dissipation time is τ (z ± ) = λ⊥ /|z ∓ |.

• The basic equations for z± admit the following solution (in the zero-frequency
limit):

„ «1 „ «
1 v 2 vA
z ± (r) ∼ ±1
v ± vA vc vAc

AAS/SPD 2010 Meeting Miami, FL – p. 6

 Wave Propagation and Dissipation: Open Field (3)

• so that the reflection coefficient is

|z − | v + vA vAc − vA
α(r) = + =
|z | vA + vAc v − vA

• λ⊥ is the outer scale of the turbulence, and it expands with the flux tube
dimension:
s
B(0)
λ⊥ = λ0 .
B(r)

• The relation between ǫ and z ± is

|z + |2 + |z − |2
ǫ=ρ ,
4

• And putting all together, we obtain:

3/2
αǫr,b
Heating ∼ √
λ⊥ ρ
AAS/SPD 2010 Meeting Miami, FL – p. 7
 Wave Propagation and Dissipation: Closed Field

• The nonlinear phenomenology in the closed-field region is based on the results of

Rappazzo et al. (2007, 2008).
• The incoming Poynting flux from the solar surface is dissipated by turbulence
inside the volume.
• We impose that the energy density at the red spot (blue), ǫ0 , is increased by the
reflected contribution that propagates from blue spot (red):
Dissipation

Loop

Reflection
Reflection

Injection

(
Boundary ǫr (0) = ǫ0 + ǫb (0),
:
conditions ǫb (L) = ǫ0 + ǫr (L).

AAS/SPD 2010 Meeting Miami, FL – p. 8

 Wave Propagation and Dissipation: Closed Field (2)

• The dissipated turbulent power density is:

2
δB⊥ 1 (ǫr ǫb )1/2
D= = .
8π τNL τNL

• Rappazzo et al. estimate the non-linear dissipation time τNL as

√ „ √ «β−1
λ⊥ 4πρ λ⊥ 4πρ B
τNL ≃ √
δB⊥ δB⊥ 4πρL

AAS/SPD 2010 Meeting Miami, FL – p. 9

 Wave Propagation and Dissipation: Closed Field (3)

• This gives the following dissipative term for the the closed-field region:

2+β
n (ǫr ǫb ) 4 Lβ−1
D (ǫr ǫb ) = 1
λβ
⊥ρ B
2 β−1

• Different values of β are associated with different regimes of turbulence:

• β = 1 −→ Kolmogorov.
• β = 2 −→ Kraichnan.
• β → ∞ −→ Weak.

AAS/SPD 2010 Meeting Miami, FL – p. 10

 Application to 1D Problems

• We tested in a 1D configuration the turbulence dissipation heating mechanism we

have described:
• A 1D wind solution from the Sun to 1 A.U.
• A loop 177 Mm long.
• Boundary conditions at R⊙ :
• T = 20, 000 K
• ne = 2 × 1012 cm−3 .
• pw ≃ 0.4 dyn/cm2
• Following Verdini et al. 2010, we add a small compressive heating term in the
lower corona:
0 !2 1
r
H R⊙
− 1.3
= 3 × 1010 exp @− A cm2 s−3
ρ 0.25

• In either case the configuration evolves until it reaches a steady state.

AAS/SPD 2010 Meeting Miami, FL – p. 11

 Example of 1D Wind Solution

800 1e+06
Speed Temperature
700 900000
800000
600
700000
500 600000
km/s

400 500000

K
300 400000
300000
200
200000
100 100000
0 0
50 100 150 200 50 100 150 200
r / RS r / RS

1e+14 5
Density Heating/density
4.5
1e+12
4
1e+10 3.5

3 × 1010 cm2 s-3

3
1e+08
cm-3

2.5
1e+06
2

10000 1.5
1
100
0.5
1 0
50 100 150 200 1 10 100
r / RS r / RS

AAS/SPD 2010 Meeting Miami, FL – p. 12

 Example of 1D Loop Solution

0 1.4e+06
Speed Temperature
-0.1 1.2e+06

-0.2
1e+06
-0.3
800000
km/s

-0.4

K
600000
-0.5
400000
-0.6

-0.7 200000

-0.8 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Mm Mm
1e+13 0.0005
Density Heating/density

1e+12 0.0004

3 × 1010 cm2 s-3

1e+11 0.0003
cm-3

1e+10 0.0002

1e+09 0.0001

1e+08 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Mm Mm

AAS/SPD 2010 Meeting Miami, FL – p. 13

 2D Streamer and Solar Wind Solution

• We have begun testing the Alfvén wave heating mechanism with our 3D MHD
code.
• We specify a dipole of amplitude 1.5 G at r = R⊙ .
• At the solar surface, we impose the same boundary conditions used in the 1D
examples.
• Initial plasma, temperature, density, and velocity were obtained from a 1D solar
wind solution calculated previously.
• Thermal conductivity κ and radiation loss function Q are modified to broaden the
gradient in the transition region.
• Nonuniform grid in r × θ of 301 × 401 points. Finest radial grid resolution at
r = R⊙ was 321 km; angular resolution was uniform.

AAS/SPD 2010 Meeting Miami, FL – p. 14

 2D Streamer

Temperature Magnetic Flux

Sun Sun

1R 1R

MK

0 1 AAS/SPD 2010 Meeting Miami, FL – p. 15

 Wind in the Heliosphere

Wind Speed Speed vs. Latitude at 1 A.U.

700
V at 215 RS
650

600

550

km/s
500

450

400

350
Sun 1 A.U. 300
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
θ

Density vs. Latitude at 1 A.U.

7
ρ at 215 RS
6

4
-3
cm

km/s 1

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
0 200 400 600 θ

AAS/SPD 2010 Meeting Miami, FL – p. 16

 Conclusions

• We have incorporated into our 3D MHD code:

• A self-consistent heating and acceleration mechanism for the solar wind
based on turbulence dissipation.
• A heating mechanism based on non-linear cascade dissipation for the
closed field regions.
• The model has been tested first in 1D wind and loop simulations.
• We have performed a first 2D streamer/solar wind simulation with the main code.
• First results are encouraging.
• Further testing is necessary.

Worked performed thanks to NASA Solar and Heliospheric Physics program and
Heliophysics Theory Program.

AAS/SPD 2010 Meeting Miami, FL – p. 17