On the Heating of the Solar Corona and the Acceleration of the Low-Speed Solar Wind by Acoustic Waves Generated in Corona

Abstract

We investigate possibilities of solar coronal heating by acoustic waves generated not at the photosphere but in the corona, aiming at heating in the mid- to low-latitude corona where the low-speed wind is expected to come from. Acoustic waves of period tau ~ 100s are triggered by chromospheric reconnection, one model of small scale magnetic reconnection events recently proposed by Sturrock. These waves having a finite amplitude eventually form shocks to shape sawtooth waves (N-waves), and directly heat the surrounding corona by dissipation of their wave energy. Outward propagation of the N-waves is treated based on the weak shock theory, so that the heating rate can be evaluated consistently with physical properties of the background coronal plasma without setting a dissipation length in an ad hoc manner. We construct coronal structures from the upper chromosphere to the outside of 1AU for various inputs of the acoustic waves having a range of energy flux of F_{w,0} = (1-20) times 10^5 erg cm^{-2} s^{-1} and a period of tau = 60-300s. The heating by the N-wave dissipation effectively works in the inner corona and we find that the waves of F_{w,0} >= 2 times 10^5 erg cm^{-2} s^{-1} and tau >= 60s could maintain peak coronal temperature, T_{max} > 10^6 K. The model could also reproduce the density profile observed in the streamer region. However, due to its short dissipation length, the location of T_{max} is closer to the surface than the observation, and the resultant flow velocity of the solar wind is lower than the observed profile of the low-speed wind. The cooperations with other heating and acceleration sources with the larger dissipation length are inevitable to reproduce the real solar corona.