Solar Wind Acceleration in Coronal Holes. [High Speed Solar Wind Streams].
Author | : |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : |
Release | : 1978 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:727315284 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 ( Downloads) |
Download or read book Solar Wind Acceleration in Coronal Holes. [High Speed Solar Wind Streams]. written by and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Past attempts to explain the large solar wind velocities in high speed streams by theoretical models of the expansion have invoked either extended nonthermal heating of the corona, heat flux inhibition, or direct addition of momentum to the expanding coronal plasma. Several workers have shown that inhibiting the heat flux at low coronal densities is probably not adequate to explain quantitatively the observed plasma velocities in high speed streams. It stressed that, in order to account for both these large plasma velocities and the low densities found in coronal holes (from which most high speed streams are believed to emanate), extended heating by itself will not suffice. One needs a nonthermal mechanism to provide the bulk acceleration of the high wind plasma close to the sun, and the most likely candidate at present is direct addition of the momentum carried by outward-propagating waves to the expanding corona. Some form of momentum addition appears to be absolutely necessary if one hopes to build quantitatively self-consistent models of coronal holes and high speed solar wind streams.