Propagation of MHD body and surface waves in magnetically structured regions of the solar atmosphere

• Published in: Solar physics Vol. 163; no. 2; pp. 291 - 307
• Main Authors: Wu, S.T., Xiao, Y.C., Musielak, Z.E., Suess, S.T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.02.1996
• ISSN: 0038-0938; 1573-093X
• DOI: 10.1007/BF00148002

The fact that magnetically structured regions exist in the solar atmosphere has been known for a number of years. It has been suggested that different kinds of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves can be efficiently damped in these regions and that the dissipated wave energy may be responsible for the observed enhancement in radiative losses. From a theoretical point of view, an important task would be to investigate the propagation and dissipation of MHD waves in these highly structured regions of the solar atmosphere. In this paper, we study the behavior of MHD body and surface waves in a medium with either a single or double (slab) magnetic interface by use of a nonlinear, two-dimensional, time-dependent, ideal MHD numerical model constructed on the basis of a Lagrangean grid and semi-implicit scheme. The processes of wave confinement and wave energy leakage are discussed in detail. It is shown that the obtained results depend strongly on the type of perturbations imposed on the interface or slab and on the plasma parameter, beta . The relevance of the obtained results to the heating problem of the upper parts of the solar atmosphere is also discussed.