Heating of solar chromosphere by electromagnetic wave absorption in a plasma slab model

Abstract

The heating of solar chromospheric inter-network regions by means of the absorption of electromagnetic (EM) waves that originate from the photospheric blackbody radiation is studied in the framework of a plasma slab model. The absorption is provided by the electron-neutral collisions in which electrons oscillate in the EM wave field and electron-neutral collisions damp the EM wave. Given the uncertain nature of the collision cross-section due to the plasma micro-turbulence, it is shown that for plausible physical parameters, the heating flux produced by the absorption of EM waves in the chromosphere is between $20-45$ % of the chromospheric radiative loss flux requirement. It is also established that there is an optimal value for the collision cross-section, $5\times 10^{-18}$ m${}^2$, that produces the maximal heating flux of 1990 W m${}^{-2}$.

Physics of Plasmas, in press, April 2011 issue (final printed version, typos in proofs corrected)

References in corpus (3)

• A grid of MARCS model atmospheres for late-type stars I. Methods and general properties
• Dynamics of the Solar Magnetic Network. II. Heating the Magnetized Chromosphere
• A mechanism for parallel electric field generation in the MHD limit: possible implications for the coronal heating problem in the two stage mechanism

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Electron plasma wake field acceleration in solar coronal and chromospheric plasmas