Solar Wind Modeling with Turbulence Transport and Heating
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Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2011-01-06
Type of Work
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Citation of Original Publication
Usmanov, Arcadi V., William H. Matthaeus, Benjamin A. Breech, and Melvyn L. Goldstein. “Solar Wind Modeling with Turbulence Transport and Heating.” The Astrophysical Journal 727, no. 2 (January 2011): 84. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/727/2/84.
Rights
This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
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Public Domain Mark 1.0
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Abstract
We have developed an axisymmetric steady-state solar wind model that describes properties of the large-scale solar wind, interplanetary magnetic field, and turbulence throughout the heliosphere from 0.3 AU to 100 AU. The model is based on numerical solutions of large-scale Reynolds-averaged magnetohydrodynamic equations coupled with a set of small-scale transport equations for the turbulence energy, normalized cross helicity, and correlation scale. The combined set of time-dependent equations is solved in the frame of reference corotating with the Sun using a time-relaxation method. We use the model to study the self-consistent interaction between the large-scale solar wind and smaller-scale turbulence and the role of the turbulence in the large-scale structure and temperature distribution in the solar wind. To illuminate the roles of the turbulent cascade and the pickup protons in heating the solar wind depending on the heliocentric distance, we compare the model results with and without turbulence/pickup protons. The variations of plasma temperature in the outer heliosphere are compared with Ulysses and Voyager 2 observations.