Recent Observations of Plasma and Alfvenic Wave Energy Injection at the Base of the Fast Solar Wind

Abstract

We take stock of recent observations that identify the episodic plasma heating and injection of Alfvenic energy at the base of fast solar wind (in coronal holes). The plasma heating is associated with the occurrence of chromospheric spicules that leave the lower solar atmosphere at speeds of order 100km/s, the hotter coronal counterpart of the spicule emits radiation characteristic of root heating that rapidly reaches temperatures of the order of 1MK. Furthermore, the same spicules and their coronal counterparts ("Propagating Coronal Disturbances"; PCD) exhibit large amplitude, high speed, Alfvenic (transverse) motion of sufficient energy content to accelerate the material to high speeds. We propose that these (disjointed) heating and accelerating components form a one-two punch to supply, and then accelerate, the fast solar wind. We consider some compositional constraints on this concept, extend the premise to the slow solar wind, and identify future avenues of exploration.

12 pages, 9 figures - accepted to appear in Space Science Reviews

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Cited by in corpus (14)

• The Properties of the Solar Corona and Its Connection to the Solar Wind
• Observation and Modeling of Solar Jets
• Waves in Solar Coronal Loops
• High Frequency Waves in Chromospheric Spicules
• Driving Solar Spicules and Jets with Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence: Testing a Persistent Idea
• Observational Signatures of Waves and Flows in the Solar Corona
• The detection of upwardly propagating waves channelling energy from the chromosphere to the low corona
• Two-fluid numerical simulations of the origin of the fast solar wind
• Measurements of Anisotropic Ion Temperatures, Non-Thermal Velocities, and Doppler Shifts in a Coronal Hole
• Solar chromosphere heating and generation of plasma outflows by impulsively generated two fluid Alfven waves
• Time-Dependent Turbulent Heating of Open Flux Tubes in the Chromosphere, Corona, and Solar Wind
• Modeling imbalanced collisionless Alfvén wave turbulence with nonlinear diffusion equations
• On Thermal-Pulse-Driven Plasma Flows in Coronal Funnels as Observed by Hinode/EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS)
• A new facility for airborne solar astronomy: NASA's WB-57 at the 2017 total solar eclipse