Density-gradient-driven drift waves in the solar corona

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Brchnelova, Michaela, Pueschel, MJ, Poedts, Stefaan
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Brchnelova, Michaela
Pueschel, MJ
Poedts, Stefaan
author_facet Brchnelova, Michaela
Pueschel, MJ
Poedts, Stefaan
contents It has been suggested that under solar coronal conditions, drift waves may contribute to coronal heating. Specific properties of the drift waves to be expected in the solar corona have, however, not yet been determined using more advanced numerical models. We investigate the linear properties of density-gradient-driven drift waves in the solar coronal plasma using gyrokinetic ion-electron simulations with the gyrokinetic code GENE, solving the Vlasov-Maxwell equations in five dimensions assuming a simple slab geometry. We determine the frequencies and growth rates of the coronal density gradient-driven drift waves with changing plasma parameters, such as the electron \b{eta} , the density gradient, the magnetic shear and additional temperature gradients. To investigate the influence of the finite Larmor radius effect on the growth and structure of the modes, we also compare the gyrokinetic simulation results to those obtained from drift-kinetics. In most of the investigated conditions, the drift wave has positive growth rates that increase with increasing density gradient and decreasing \b{eta} . In the case of increasing magnetic shear, we find that from a certain point, the growth rate reaches a plateau. Depending on the considered reference environment, the frequencies and growth rates of these waves lie on the order of 0.1 mHz to 1 Hz. These values correspond to the observed solar wind density fluctuations near the Sun detected by WISPR, currently of unexplained origin. As a next step, nonlinear simulations are required to determine the expected fluctuation amplitudes and the plasma heating resulting from this mechanism.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_06696
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Density-gradient-driven drift waves in the solar corona
Brchnelova, Michaela
Pueschel, MJ
Poedts, Stefaan
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Computational Physics
Plasma Physics
Space Physics
It has been suggested that under solar coronal conditions, drift waves may contribute to coronal heating. Specific properties of the drift waves to be expected in the solar corona have, however, not yet been determined using more advanced numerical models. We investigate the linear properties of density-gradient-driven drift waves in the solar coronal plasma using gyrokinetic ion-electron simulations with the gyrokinetic code GENE, solving the Vlasov-Maxwell equations in five dimensions assuming a simple slab geometry. We determine the frequencies and growth rates of the coronal density gradient-driven drift waves with changing plasma parameters, such as the electron \b{eta} , the density gradient, the magnetic shear and additional temperature gradients. To investigate the influence of the finite Larmor radius effect on the growth and structure of the modes, we also compare the gyrokinetic simulation results to those obtained from drift-kinetics. In most of the investigated conditions, the drift wave has positive growth rates that increase with increasing density gradient and decreasing \b{eta} . In the case of increasing magnetic shear, we find that from a certain point, the growth rate reaches a plateau. Depending on the considered reference environment, the frequencies and growth rates of these waves lie on the order of 0.1 mHz to 1 Hz. These values correspond to the observed solar wind density fluctuations near the Sun detected by WISPR, currently of unexplained origin. As a next step, nonlinear simulations are required to determine the expected fluctuation amplitudes and the plasma heating resulting from this mechanism.
title Density-gradient-driven drift waves in the solar corona
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Computational Physics
Plasma Physics
Space Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.06696