Related papers: Magnetic Influences on the Solar Wind (Ph.D. Disse…
Parker's initial insights from 1958 provided a key causal link between the heating of the solar corona and the acceleration of the solar wind. However, we still do not know what fraction of the solar wind's mass, momentum, and energy flux…
The solar wind is the extension of the Sun's hot and ionized corona, and it exists in a state of continuous expansion into interplanetary space. The radial distance at which the wind's outflow speed exceeds the phase speed of Alfvenic and…
The role of interchange reconnection as a drive mechanism for the solar wind is explored by solving the global magnetic-field-aligned equations describing wind acceleration. Boundary conditions in the low corona, including a…
One proposed mechanism for heating the solar wind, from close to the sun to beyond 10 AU, invokes low-frequency, oblique, Alfven-wave turbulence. Because small-scale oblique Alfven waves (kinetic Alfven waves) are compressive, the measured…
We present numerical simulations of reduced magnetohydrodynamic (RMHD) turbulence in a magnetic flux tube at the center of a polar coronal hole. The model for the background atmosphere is a solution of the momentum equation, and includes…
Recent observations have demonstrated that waves which are capable of carrying large amounts of energy are ubiquitous throughout the solar corona. However, the question of how this wave energy is dissipated (on which time and length scales)…
In this talk we introduce our recent results of global 1D MHD simulations for the acceleration of solar and stellar winds. We impose transverse photospheric motions corresponding to the granulations, which generate outgoing Alfven waves.…
Current models of the solar wind must approximate (or ignore) the small-scale dynamics within the solar atmosphere, however these are likely important in shaping the emerging wave-turbulence spectrum and ultimately heating/accelerating the…
This paper reviews our growing understanding of the physics behind coronal heating (in open-field regions) and the acceleration of the solar wind. Many new insights have come from the last solar cycle's worth of observations and theoretical…
We study the propagation, reflection, and turbulent dissipation of Alfven waves in coronal holes and the solar wind. We start with the Heinemann-Olbert equations, which describe non-compressive magnetohydrodynamic fluctuations in an…
Magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) Alfv\'en 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…
The solar atmosphere may be heated by Alfven waves that propagate up from the convection zone and dissipate their energy in the chromosphere and corona. To further test this theory, we consider wave heating in an active region observed on…
Four decades have gone by since the discovery that the solar wind at 1 AU seems to exist in two relatively distinct states: slow and fast. There is still no universal agreement concerning the primary physical cause of this apparently…
The Sun's corona, heated to temperatures exceeding one million Kelvin despite lying above the cooler photosphere, has puzzled astrophysicists since its discovery in the 1940s. Prevailing theories, based on acoustic and magnetohydrodynamic…
We investigate the origin of mesoscale structures in the solar wind called microstreams defined as enhancements in solar wind speed and temperature that last several hours. They were first clearly detected in Helios and Ulysses solar wind…
Identifying the heating mechanisms of the solar corona and the driving mechanisms of solar wind are key challenges in understanding solar physics. A full three-dimensional compressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation was conducted to…
The heating of magnetized plasma by propagation of Alfven waves is calculated as a function of the magnetic field spectral density. The results can be applied to evaluate the heating power of the solar corona at known data from satellites'…
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…
In the lower solar atmosphere, the chromosphere is permeated by jets known as spicules, in which plasma is propelled at speeds of 50 to 150 kilometers per second into the corona. The origin of the spicules is poorly understood, although…
After leaving the Sun's corona, the solar wind continues to accelerate and cools, but more slowly than expected for a freely expanding adiabatic gas. We use in situ measurements from the Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter spacecrafts to…