The energy for the coronal heating must be provided from the convection zone. The amount and the method by which this energy is transferred into the corona depends on the properties of the lower atmosphere and the corona itself. We review: 1) how the energy could be built in the lower solar atmosphere; 2) how this energy is transferred through the solar atmosphere; and 3) how the energy is finally dissipated in the chromosphere and/or corona. Any mechanism of energy transport has to deal with the various physical processes in the lower atmosphere. We will focus on a physical process that seems to be highly important in the chromosphere and not deeply studied until recently: the ion-neutral interaction effects (INIE) in the chromosphere. We review the relevance and the role of the partial ionization in the chromosphere and show that this process actually impacts considerably the outer solar atmosphere. We include analysis of our 2.5D radiative MHD simulations with the Bifrost code (Gudiksen et al. 2011) including the partial ionization effects on the chromosphere and corona and thermal conduction along magnetic field lines. The photosphere, chromosphere and transition region are partially ionized and the interaction between ionized particles and neutral particles has important consequences on the magneto-thermodynamics of these layers. The INIE are treated using generalized Ohm's law, i.e., we consider the Hall term and the ambipolar diffusion in the induction equation. The interaction between the different species affects the modeled atmosphere as follows: 1) the ambipolar diffusion dissipates magnetic energy and increases the minimum temperature in the chromosphere; 2) the upper chromosphere may get heated and expanded over a greater range of heights. These processes reveal appreciable differences between the modeled atmospheres of simulations with and without INIE.
Two-dimensional Radiative Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Partial Ionization in the Chromosphere. II. Dynamics and Energetics of the Low Solar Atmosphere
We present a new insight into the propagation, attenuation and dissipation of two-fluid, torsional Alfvén waves in the context of heating of the lower solar atmosphere. By means of numerical simulations of the partially-ionized plasma, we solve the set of two-fluid equations for ion plus electron and neutral fluids in three-dimensional (3D) Cartesian geometry. We implement initially a current-free magnetic field configuration, corresponding to a magnetic flux-tube that is rooted in the solar photosphere and expands into the chromosphere and corona. We put the lower boundary of our simulation r…
The physics of the solar chromosphere is complex from both theoretical and modeling perspectives. The plasma temperature from the photosphere to corona increases from ~5,000 K to ~1 million K over a distance of only ~10,000 km from the chromosphere and the transition region. Certain regions of the solar atmosphere have sufficiently low temperature and ionization rates to be considered as weakly-ionized. In particular, this is true at the lower chromosphere. In this paper, we present an overview of our data-driven magnetohydrodynamics model for the weakly-ionized chromosphere and show a benchma…
We present observations of the solar chromosphere obtained simultaneously with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). The observatories targeted a chromospheric plage region of which the spatial distribution (split between strongly and weakly magnetized regions) allowed the study of linear-like structures in isolation, free of contamination from background emission. Using these observations in conjunction with a radiative magnetohydrodynamic 2.5D model covering the upper convection zone all the way to the corona that consid…
The physics of the solar chromosphere is complex from both theoretical and modeling perspectives. The plasma temperature from the photosphere to corona increases from ~5,000 K to ~1 million K over a distance of only ~10,000 km from the chromosphere and the transition region. Certain regions of the solar atmosphere have sufficiently low temperature and ionization rates to be considered as weakly-ionized. In particular, this is true at the lower chromosphere. As a result, the Cowling resistivity is orders of magnitude greater than the Coulomb resistivity. Ohm's law therefore includes anisotropic…
The heating of the chromosphere in internetwork regions remains one of the foremost open questions in solar physics. In the present study we tackle this old problem by using a very high spatial-resolution simulation of quiet-Sun conditions performed with radiative MHD numerical models and IRIS observations. We have expanded a previously existing 3D radiative MHD numerical model of the solar atmosphere, which included self-consistently locally driven magnetic amplification in the chromosphere, by adding ambipolar diffusion and time-dependent non-equilibrium hydrogen ionization to the model. The…
The Mg II h&k lines are amongst the best diagnostic tools of the upper solar chromosphere. This region of the atmosphere is of particular interest as it is the lowest region of the Sun's atmosphere where the magnetic field is dominant in the energetics and dynamics, defining its structure. While highly successful in the photosphere and lower to mid chromosphere, numerical models have produced syntheticMg II lines that do not match the observations well. We present a number of large scale models with magnetic field topologies representative of the quiet Sun, ephemeral flux regions and plage, an…
Detailed and simplified non-equilibrium helium ionization in the solar atmosphere
氦电离在色球上层和过渡区的能量平衡中起着重要的作用。氦谱线也经常被用作这些区域的诊断。我们对太阳大气进行了一维辐射流体动力学模拟，发现氦的电离主要是由光电离和直接碰撞电离引起的，并被辐射复合级联所抵消。通过引入一个模拟复合级联的附加复合率，我们构造了一个简化的仅由基态组成的三能级氦原子模型。该模型适用于三维数值模型中的非平衡氦电离模拟。我们对He I 10830和He II 304谱线的形成进行了简要的研究。这两条线都显示了统计平衡模型无法恢复的非平衡特征，因此，在使用这种模型作为解释观测结果的基础时应谨慎行事。
Magnetic Diagnostics of the Solar Chromosphere with the Mg II h-k Lines
我们研究了在弱磁化大气（20-100 G）中Mg II h-k双重态的形成，使用一个新开发的极化RT在一个平面平行几何的数值代码，它实现了最近制定的部分相干散射极化多项原子在任意磁场制度。我们的研究结果证实了部分再分配效应的重要性，在形成的Mg II H和K线，如以前的工作中所指出的非磁性的情况下。我们表明，存在一个磁场可以产生可测量的修改的宽带线极化，即使是相对较小的场强（~10 G），而圆极化仍然很好地代表了经典magnetographic公式。这两个结果为太阳上层大气的弱场诊断打开了一个重要的新窗口。
The chromosphere is a partially ionized layer of the solar atmosphere, the transition between the photosphere where the gas motion is determined by the gas pressure and the corona dominated by the magnetic field. We study the effect of partial ionization for 2D wave propagation in a gravitationally stratified, magnetized atmosphere with properties similar to the solar chromosphere. We adopt an oblique uniform magnetic field in the plane of propagation with strength suitable for a quiet sun region. The theoretical model used is a single fluid magnetohydrodynamic approximation, where ion-neutral…
The Temperature Diagnostic Properties of the MG I 457.1 NM Line
我们分析了Mg I 457.1 nm谱线的重要形成过程。这条线是一条内部耦合线，并且源函数接近于局部热力学平衡（LTE）值。强耦合到当地的温度和相对较高的人口较低的水平（基态的镁I），使这条线在较低的色球/温度最低区域的温度诊断的理想候选人。由于非LTE电离，将探测的温度与绝对物理高度联系起来并不简单。我们分析了非LTE效应，发现低能级的光电离和级联碰撞复合共同主导电离平衡。适当考虑紫外线的线覆盖效应是获得正确的光电离率的必要条件。识别线中的主要非LTE效应使我们能够构建一个典型的模型原子，非常适合计算要求高的任务，例如全3D和/或时间相关的辐射转移。此外，我们分析了诊断潜力，这条线在类太阳大气中的温度，通过合成线从一系列参数化的大气模式。这些模型都是用固定的有效温度，但在能量方程中加入一个可变的热量项，以获得不同高度的色球温升。我们的结论是，该线具有显着的潜力，在诊断较低的色球层温度结构，特别是对于较冷的大气，如太阳黑子。
We present the Tenerife Inversion Code (TIC), which has been developed to infer the magnetic and plasma properties of the solar chromosphere and transition region via full-Stokes inversion of polarized spectral lines. The code is based on the HanleRT forward engine, which takes into account many of the physical mechanisms that are critical for a proper modeling of the Stokes profiles of spectral lines originating in the tenuous and highly dynamic plasmas of the chromosphere and transition region: quantum level population imbalance and interference (atomic polarization), frequency coherence eff…
Context. It is known that Alfvén and magnetoacoustic waves both contribute to the heating of the solar chromosphere and drive plasma outflows. In both cases, the thermalization of the wave energy occurs due to ion-neutral collisions, but the obtained rates of plasma heating cannot explain the observational data. The same is true for the magnitudes of the outflows. Aims. The aim of the present paper is to reexamine two-fluid modeling of Alfvén and magnetoacoustic waves in the partially ionized solar chromosphere. We attempt to detect variations in the ion temperature, and vertical plasma flows …
In the stellar chromospheres, radiative energy transport is dominated by only the strongest spectral lines. For these lines, the approximation of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) is known to be very inaccurate, and a state of equilibrium cannot be assumed in general. To calculate the radiative energy transport under these conditions, the population evolution equation must be evaluated explicitly, including all time-dependent terms. We develop a numerical method to solve the evolution equation for the atomic-level populations in a time-implicit way, keeping all time-dependent terms to firs…
\textbf{Purpose:} This paper addresses long-standing solar physics problems, namely, the heating of the solar chromosphere and the origin of the solar wind. Our aim is to reveal the related mechanisms behind chromospheric heating and plasma outflows in a quiet-Sun. \textbf{Methods:} The approach is based on a two-fluid numerical model that accounts for thermal non-equilibrium (ionization/recombination), non-adiabatic, and non-ideal dynamics of protons+electrons and hydrogen atoms. The model is applied to numerically simulate the propagation and dissipation of granulation-generated waves in the…
The chromosphere is a partially ionized layer of the solar atmosphere, the transition between the photosphere where the gas is almost neutral and the fully ionized corona. As the collisional coupling between neutral and charged particles decreases in the upper part of the chromosphere, the hydrodynamical timescales may become comparable to the collisional timescale, and a two-fluid model is needed. In this paper we describe the implementation and validation of a two-fluid model which simultaneously evolves charges and neutrals, coupled by collisions. The two-fluid equations are implemented in …
A 2.5D numerical model of magnetoacoustic-Alfvén linear mode conversions in the partially ionised low solar atmosphere induced by the Hall effect is surveyed, varying magnetic field strength and inclination, and wave frequency and horizontal wave number. It is found that only the magnetic component of wave energy is subject to Hall-mediated conversions to Alfvén wave-energy via a process of polarisation rotation. This strongly boosts direct mode conversion between slow magneto\-acoustic and Alfvén waves in the quiet low chromosphere, even at mHz frequencies. However, fast waves there, which ar…
