Magnetoacoustic Portals and the Basal Heating of the Solar Chromosphere

We show that inclined magnetic field lines at the boundaries of large-scale convective cells (supergranules) provide "portals" through which low-frequency (<5 mHz) magnetoacoustic waves can propagate into the solar chromosphere. The energy flux carried by these waves at a height of 400...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The Astrophysical journal Vol. 648; no. 2; pp. L151 - L155
Main Authors:	Jefferies, Stuart M, McIntosh, Scott W, Armstrong, James D, Bogdan, Thomas J, Cacciani, Alessandro, Fleck, Bernhard
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Chicago, IL IOP Publishing 10-09-2006 University of Chicago Press
Subjects:	Astronomy Earth, ocean, space Exact sciences and technology Sun: magnetic fields Sun: atmospheric motions Magnetic fields Solar chromosphere Sun Sun: chromosphere Atmospheric movements
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	We show that inclined magnetic field lines at the boundaries of large-scale convective cells (supergranules) provide "portals" through which low-frequency (<5 mHz) magnetoacoustic waves can propagate into the solar chromosphere. The energy flux carried by these waves at a height of 400 km above the solar surface is found to be a factor of 4 greater than that carried by the high-frequency (>5 mHz) acoustic waves, which are believed to provide the dominant source of wave heating of the chromosphere. This result opens up the possibility that low-frequency magnetoacoustic waves provide a significant source of energy for balancing the radiative losses of the ambient solar chromosphere.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-2 ObjectType-Feature-1
ISSN:	1538-4357 0004-637X 1538-4357
DOI:	10.1086/508165