Bibcode
Goossens, M.; Ballester, J. L.; Díaz, A. J.; Soler, R.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 551, id.A86, 11 pp.
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3
2013
Journal
Citations
20
Refereed citations
19
Description
Observations show that waves are ubiquitous in the solar atmosphere and
may play an important role for plasma heating. The study of waves in the
solar corona is usually based on linear ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD)
for a fully ionized plasma. However, the plasma in the photosphere and
the chromosphere is only partially ionized. Here we theoretically
investigate the impact of partial ionization on MHD wave propagation in
cylindrical flux tubes in a two-fluid model. We derive the general
dispersion relation that takes into account the effects of neutral-ion
collisions and the neutral gas pressure. We assumed the neutral-ion
collision frequency to be an arbitrary parameter. Specific results for
transverse kink modes and slow magnetoacoustic modes are shown. We find
that the wave frequencies only depend on the properties of the ionized
fluid when the neutral-ion collision frequency is much lower that the
wave frequency. For high collision frequencies that realistically
represent the solar atmosphere, ions and neutrals behave as a single
fluid with an effective density corresponding to the sum of densities of
fluids plus an effective sound velocity computed as the average of the
sound velocities of ions and neutrals. The MHD wave frequencies are
modified accordingly. The neutral gas pressure can be neglected when
studying transverse kink waves but it has to be included for a
consistent description of slow magnetoacoustic waves. The MHD waves are
damped by neutral-ion collisions. The damping is most efficient when the
wave frequency and the collision frequency are on the same order of
magnitude. For high collision frequencies slow magnetoacoustic waves are
more efficiently damped than transverse kink waves. In addition, we find
the presence of cut-offs for certain combinations of parameters that
cause the waves to become non-propagating.
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