Newly Discovered Source of Turbulence and Heating in the Solar Chromosphere
Above the Sun's luminous photosphere lies the solar chromosphere, where the temperature increases from below 4000 K to over 1 million K. Though physicists do not understand the origin of these increases, they know it powers the solar wind with enormous consequences for the entire solar system....
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Published in | Astrophysical journal. Letters Vol. 891; no. 1; p. L9 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Austin
The American Astronomical Society
01.03.2020
IOP Publishing |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Above the Sun's luminous photosphere lies the solar chromosphere, where the temperature increases from below 4000 K to over 1 million K. Though physicists do not understand the origin of these increases, they know it powers the solar wind with enormous consequences for the entire solar system. This report describes a set of simulations and analytical theory showing that solar atmospheric flows originating in the photosphere will frequently drive a previously unidentified thermal plasma instability that rapidly develops into turbulence. Though this turbulence is small scale (centimeters to a few meters), it will modify the conductivity, temperatures, and energy flows through much of the chromosphere. Incorporating the effects of this turbulence, and other small-scale turbulence, into large-scale models of solar and stellar atmospheres will improve physicists' ability to model energy flows with important consequences for the predicted temperatures and radiation patterns. |
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Bibliography: | AAS21367 |
ISSN: | 2041-8205 2041-8213 |
DOI: | 10.3847/2041-8213/ab75bc |