arXiv subjects

Munehito Shoda

Publications and source records attributed to Munehito Shoda.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Role of Longitudinal Waves in Alfven-wave-driven Solar/Stellar Wind

We study the role the the p-mode-like vertical oscillation on the photosphere in driving solar winds in the framework of Alfven-wave-driven winds. By performing one-dimensional magnetohydrodynamical numerical simulations from the photosphere to the interplanetary space, we discover that the mass-loss rate is raised up to 4 times as the amplitude of longitudinal perturbations at the photosphere increases. When the longitudinal fluctuation is added, transverse waves are generated by the mode conversion from longitudinal waves in the chromosphere, which increases Alfvenic Poynting flux in the corona. As a result, the coronal heating is enhanced to yield higher coronal density by the chromospheric evaporation, leading to the increase of the mass-loss rate. Our findings clearly show the importance of the p-mode oscillation in the photosphere and the mode conversion in the chromosphere in determining the basic properties of the wind from the sun and solar-type stars.

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arXiv2022

The Effect of the Chromospheric Temperature on Coronal Heating

Recent observational and numerical studies show a variety of thermal structures in the solar chromosphere. Given that the thermal interplay across the transition region is a key to coronal heating, it is worth investigating how different thermal structures of the chromosphere yield different coronal properties. In this work, by MHD simulations of Alfvén-wave heating of coronal loops, we study how the coronal properties are affected by the chromospheric temperature. To this end, instead of solving the radiative transfer equation, we employ a simple radiative loss function so that the chromospheric temperature is easily tuned. When the chromosphere is hotter, because the chromosphere extends to a larger height, the coronal part of the magnetic loop becomes shorter, which enhances the conductive cooling. A larger loop length is therefore required to maintain the high-temperature corona against the thermal conduction. From our numerical simulations we derive a condition for the coronal formation with respect to the half loop length $l_{\rm loop}$ in a simple form: $l_{\rm loop} > a T_{\rm min} + l_{\rm th}$, where $T_{\rm min}$ is the minimum temperature in the atmosphere and parameters $a$ and $l_{\rm th}$ have negative dependencies on the coronal field strength. Our conclusion is that the chromospheric temperature has a non-negligible impact on coronal heating for loops with small length and weak coronal field. In particular, the enhanced chromospheric heating could prevent the formation of the corona.

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arXiv2022

Stirring the Base of the Solar Wind: On Heat Transfer and Vortex Formation

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 coronal plasma. The Bifrost code produces realistic simulations of the solar atmosphere that facilitate the analysis of spatial and temporal scales which are currently at, or beyond, the limit of modern solar telescopes. For this study, the Bifrost simulation is configured to represent the solar atmosphere in a coronal hole region, from which the fast solar wind emerges. The simulation extends from the upper-convection zone (2.5 Mm below the photosphere) to the low-corona (14.5 Mm above the photosphere), with a horizontal extent of 24 Mm x 24 Mm. The twisting of the coronal magnetic field by photospheric flows, efficiently injects energy into the low-corona. Poynting fluxes of up to $2-4$ kWm$^{-2}$ are commonly observed inside twisted magnetic structures with diameters in the low-corona of 1 - 5 Mm. Torsional Alfvén waves are favourably transmitted along these structures, and will subsequently escape into the solar wind. However, reflections of these waves from the upper boundary condition make it difficult to unambiguously quantify the emerging Alfvén wave-energy flux. This study represents a first step in quantifying the conditions at the base of the solar wind using Bifrost simulations. It is shown that the coronal magnetic field is readily braided and twisted by photospheric flows. Temperature and density contrasts form between regions with active stirring motions and those without. Stronger whirlpool-like flows in the convection, concurrent with magnetic concentrations, launch torsional Alfvén waves up through the magnetic funnel network, which are expected to enhance the turbulent generation of magnetic switchbacks in the solar wind.

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arXiv2022

Role of Longitudinal Waves in Alfvén-wave-driven Solar Wind

We revisit the role of longitudinal waves in driving the solar wind. We study how the the $p$-mode-like vertical oscillation on the photosphere affects the properties of solar winds under the framework of Alfvén-wave-driven winds. We perform a series of one-dimensional magnetohydrodynamical numerical simulations from the photosphere to beyond several tens of solar radii. We find that the mass-loss rate drastically increases with the longitudinal wave amplitude at the photosphere up to $\sim 4$ times, in contrast to the classical understanding that the acoustic wave hardly affects the energetics of the solar wind. The addition of the longitudinal fluctuation induces the longitudinal-to-transverse wave mode conversion in the chromosphere, which results in the enhanced Alfvénic Poynting flux in the corona. Consequently, the coronal heating is promoted to give higher coronal density by the chromospheric evaporation, leading to the increased mass-loss rate. This study clearly shows the importance of the longnitudinal oscillation in the photosphere and the mode conversion in the chromosphere in determining the basic properties of the wind from solar-like stars.

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arXiv2022

Testing the Alfvén-wave model of the solar wind with interplanetary scintillation

Understanding the mechanism(s) of the solar wind acceleration is important in astrophysics and geophysics. A promising model of the solar wind acceleration is known as the wave/turbulence-driven (WTD) model, in which Alfvén waves feed energy to the solar wind. In this study, we tested the WTD model with global measurement of wind speed from interplanetary scintillation (IPS) observations. For Carrington rotations in minimal and maximal activity phases, we selected field lines calculated by the potential-field source-surface method in high- and mid-latitudes and compared the simulated and observed wind velocities. The simulation was performed in a self-consistent manner by solving the magnetohydrodynamic equations from the photosphere to the solar wind. In high-latitude regions, the simulated solar wind velocity agrees better with the IPS observation than with the classical Wang--Sheeley empirical estimation, both in maximal and minimal activity phases. In mid-latitude regions, the agreement worsens, possibly because of the inaccuracy of the WTD model and/or the magnetic-field extrapolation. Our results indicate that the high-latitude solar wind is likely to be driven by waves and turbulence, and that the physics-based prediction of the solar wind velocity is highly feasible with an improved magnetic-field extrapolation.

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arXiv2021

Corona and XUV emission modelling of the Sun and Sun-like stars

The X-ray and extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) emissions from the low-mass stars significantly affect the evolution of the planetary atmosphere. However, it is, observationally difficult to constrain the stellar high-energy emission because of the strong interstellar extinction of EUV photons. In this study, we simulate the XUV (X-ray+EUV) emission from the Sun-like stars by extending the solar coronal heating model that self-consistently solves, with sufficiently high resolution, the surface-to-coronal energy transport, turbulent coronal heating, and coronal thermal response by conduction and radiation. The simulations are performed with a range of loop lengths and magnetic filling factors at the stellar surface. With the solar parameters, the model reproduces the observed solar XUV spectrum below the Lyman edge, thus validating its capability of predicting the XUV spectra of other Sun-like stars. The model also reproduces the observed nearly-linear relation between the unsigned magnetic flux and the X-ray luminosity. From the simulation runs with various loop lengths and filling factors, we also find a scaling relation, namely $\log L_{\rm EUV} = 9.93 + 0.67 \log L_{\rm X}$, where $L_{\rm EUV}$ and $L_{\rm X}$ are the luminosity in the EUV and X-ray range, respectively, in cgs. By assuming a power-law relation between the Rossby number and the magnetic filling factor, we reproduce the renowned relation between the Rossby number and the X-ray luminosity. We also propose an analytical description of the energy injected into the corona, which, in combination with the conventional Rosner-Tucker-Vaiana scaling law, semi-analytically explains the simulation results. This study refines the concepts of solar and stellar coronal heating and derives a theoretical relation for estimating the hidden stellar EUV luminosity from X-ray observations.

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arXiv2021

Turbulent generation of magnetic switchbacks in the Alfvénic solar wind

One of the most important early results from the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) is the ubiquitous presence of magnetic switchbacks, whose origin is under debate. Using a three-dimensional direct numerical simulation of the equations of compressible magnetohydrodynamics from the corona to 40 solar radii, we investigate whether magnetic switchbacks emerge from granulation-driven Alfvén waves and turbulence in the solar wind. The simulated solar wind is an Alfvénic slow-solar-wind stream with a radial profile consistent with various observations, including observations from PSP. As a natural consequence of Alfvén-wave turbulence, the simulation reproduced magnetic switchbacks with many of the same properties as observed switchbacks, including Alfvénic v-b correlation, spherical polarization (low magnetic compressibility), and a volume filling fraction that increases with radial distance. The analysis of propagation speed and scale length shows that the magnetic switchbacks are large-amplitude (nonlinear) Alfvén waves with discontinuities in the magnetic field direction. We directly compare our simulation with observations using a virtual flyby of PSP in our simulation domain. We conclude that at least some of the switchbacks observed by PSP are a natural consequence of the growth in amplitude of spherically polarized Alfvén waves as they propagate away from the Sun.

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arXiv2020

Alfvén-wave driven magnetic rotator winds from low-mass stars I: rotation dependences of magnetic braking and mass-loss rate

Observations of stellar rotation show that low-mass stars lose angular momentum during the main sequence. We simulate the winds of Sun-like stars with a range of rotation rates, covering the fast and slow magneto-rotator regimes, including the transition between the two. We generalize an Alfvén-wave driven solar wind model that builds on previous works by including the magneto-centrifugal force explicitly. In this model, the surface-averaged open magnetic flux is assumed to scale as $B_\ast f^{\rm open}_\ast \propto {\rm Ro}^{-1.2}$, where $f^{\rm open}_\ast$ and ${\rm Ro}$ are the surface open-flux filling factor and Rossby number, respectively. We find that, 1. the angular momentum loss rate (torque) of the wind is described as $τ_w \approx 2.59 \times 10^{30} {\rm \ erg} \ \left( Ω_\ast / Ω_\odot \right)^{2.82}$, yielding a spin-down law $Ω_\ast \propto t^{-0.55}$. 2. the mass-loss rate saturates at $\dot{M}_w \sim 3.4 \times 10^{-14} M_\odot {\rm \ yr^{-1}}$, due to the strong reflection and dissipation of Alfvén waves in the chromosphere. This indicates that the chromosphere has a strong impact in connecting the stellar surface and stellar wind. Meanwhile, the wind ram pressure scales as $P_w \propto Ω_\ast^{0.57}$, which is able to explain the lower-envelope of the observed stellar winds by Wood et al. 3. the location of the Alfvén radius is shown to scale in a way that is consistent with 1D analytic theory. Additionally, the precise scaling of the Alfvén radius matches previous works which used thermally-driven winds. Our results suggest that the Alfvén-wave driven magnetic rotator wind plays a dominant role in the stellar spin-down during the main-sequence.

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arXiv2019

Three-dimensional simulation of the fast solar wind driven by compressible magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

Using a three-dimensional compressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation, we have reproduced the fast solar wind in a direct and self-consistent manner, based on the wave/turbulence driven scenario. As a natural consequence of Alfvenic perturbations at its base, highly compressional and turbulent fluctuations are generated, leading to heating and acceleration of the solar wind. The analysis of power spectra and structure functions reveals that the turbulence is characterized by its imbalanced (in the sense of outward Alfvenic fluctuations) and anisotropic nature. The density fluctuation originates from the parametric decay instability of outwardly propagating Alfven waves and plays a significant role in the Alfven wave reflection that triggers turbulence. Our conclusion is that the fast solar wind is heated and accelerated by compressible MHD turbulence driven by parametric decay instability and resultant Alfven wave reflection.

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arXiv2018

Anisotropic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence driven by parametric decay instability: the onset of phase mixing and Alfvén wave turbulence

We conduct a three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of the parametric decay instability of Alfvén waves and resultant compressible MHD turbulence, which is likely to develop in the solar wind acceleration region. Because of the presence of the mean magnetic field, the nonlinear stage is characterized by filament-like structuring and anisotropic cascading. By calculating the timescales of phase mixing and the evolution of Alfvén wave turbulence, we have found that the early nonlinear stage is dominated by phase mixing, while the later phase is dominated by imbalanced Alfvén wave turbulence. Our results indicate that the regions in the solar atmosphere with large density fluctuation, such as the coronal bottom and wind acceleration region, are heated by phase-mixed Alfvén waves, while the other regions are heated by Alfvén wave turbulence.

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arXiv2018

Frequency-dependent Alfvén-wave propagation in the solar wind: Onset and suppression of parametric decay instability

Using numerical simulations, we investigate the onset and suppression of parametric decay instability (PDI) in the solar wind, focusing on the suppression effect by the wind acceleration and expansion. We also discuss the role of PDI in generating the density fluctuation in the solar wind and the cross-helicity evolution up to $1 {\rm \ au}$. Numerical simulations from the coronal base to 1 au are conducted in a self-consistent manner; we take into account the feedback of wave energy and pressure in the background. Monochromatic waves with various injection frequencies $f_0$ are injected to discuss the suppression of PDI, while broadband waves are applied to compare the numerical results with observation. We find, via the simulations with monochromatic waves, that high-frequency ($f_0 \gtrsim10^{-3} {\rm \ Hz}$) Alfvén waves are subject to PDI. Meanwhile, the maximum growth rate of the PDI of low-frequency ($f_0 \lesssim10^{-4} {\rm \ Hz}$) Alfvén waves becomes negative due to acceleration and expansion effects. Medium-frequency ($f_0 \approx 10^{-3.5} {\rm \ Hz}$) Alfvén waves have a positive growth rate but do not show the signature of PDI up to 1 au because the growth rate is too small. The medium-frequency waves experience neither PDI nor reflection so they propagate through the solar wind most efficiently. This is called the frequency-filtering mechanism of the solar wind. The simulations with broadband waves indicate that the observed trend of the density fluctuation is well explained by the evolution of PDI while the observed cross-helicity evolution is in agreement with low-frequency wave propagation.

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arXiv2018

A self-consistent model of the coronal heating and solar wind acceleration including compressible and incompressible heating processes

We propose a novel one-dimensional model that includes both shock and turbulence heating and qualify how these processes contribute to heating the corona and driving the solar wind. Compressible MHD simulations allow us to automatically consider shock formation and dissipation, while turbulent dissipation is modeled via a one-point closure based on Alfvén wave turbulence. Numerical simulations were conducted with different photospheric perpendicular correlation lengths $λ_0$, which is a critical parameter of Alfvén wave turbulence, and different root-mean-square photospheric transverse-wave amplitudes $δv_0$. For the various $λ_0$, we obtain a low-temperature chromosphere, high-temperature corona, and supersonic solar wind. Our analysis shows that turbulence heating is always dominant when $λ_0 \lesssim 1{\rm \ Mm}$. This result does not mean that we can ignore the compressibility because the analysis indicates that the compressible waves and their associated density fluctuations enhance the Alfvén wave reflection and therefore the turbulence heating. The density fluctuation and the cross helicity are strongly affected by $λ_0$, while the coronal temperature and mass loss rate depend weakly on $λ_0$.

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arXiv2018

High-frequency spicule oscillations generated via mode conversion

Spicule oscillations involve high-frequency components with a typical period approximately corresponding to $40-50$ s. The typical time scale of the photospheric oscillation is a few minutes, and thus, the origin of this high-frequency component is not trivial. In this study, a one-dimensional numerical simulation is performed to demonstrate that the observed spicule oscillations originate from longitudinal-to-transverse mode conversion that occurs around the equipartition layer in the chromosphere. Calculations are conducted in a self-consistent manner with the exception of additional heating to maintain coronal temperature. The analyses indicate the following features: (1) mode conversion efficiently excites high-frequency transverse waves; (2) the typical period of the high-frequency waves corresponds to the sound-crossing time of the mode conversion region; and (3) simulated root-mean-square velocity of the high-frequency component is consistent with the observed value. These results indicate that the observation of spicule oscillation provides direct evidence of mode conversion in the chromosphere.

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arXiv2016

Nonlinear reflection process of linearly-polarized, broadband Alfvén waves in the fast solar wind

Using one-dimensional numerical simulations, we study the elementary process of Alfvén wave reflection in a uniform medium, including nonlinear effects. In the linear regime, Alfvén wave reflection is triggered only by the inhomogeneity of the medium, whereas in the nonlinear regime, it can occur via nonlinear wave-wave interactions. Such nonlinear reflection (backscattering) is typified by decay instability. In most studies of decay instabilities, the initial condition has been a circularly polarized Alfvén wave. In this study we consider a linearly polarized Alfvén wave, which drives density fluctuations by its magnetic pressure force. For generality, we also assume a broadband wave with a red-noise spectrum. In the data analysis, we decompose the fluctuations into characteristic variables using local eigenvectors, thus revealing the behaviors of the individual modes. Different from circular-polarization case, we find that the wave steepening produces a new energy channel from the parent Alfvén wave to the backscattered one. Such nonlinear reflection explains the observed increasing energy ratio of the sunward to the anti-sunward Alfvénic fluctuations in the solar wind with distance against the dynamical alignment effect.

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