Onde d'Alfvén

vignette|Illustration des champs dans les ondes magnétohydrodynamiques. La partie supérieure montre comment les ondes d'Alfvén peuvent être considérées comme des ondulations des lignes de champ magnétique ; la partie inférieure montre comment le champ magnétique est densifié et aminci dans une onde magnétosonique. Symboles : B0 est le champ magnétique non perturbé dans le plasma ; k est le vecteur d'onde, indiquant la direction de propagation de l'onde ; B1, E1, v1 et j1 sont les perturbations causées par l'onde dans le champ magnétique, le champ électrique, la vitesse du plasma et le courant électrique, respectivement. Les ondes d'Alfvén, nommées d’après Hannes Alfvén, sont des ondes magnétohydrodynamiques que l'on rencontre dans les plasmas et, plus généralement, dans les fluides à conductivité électrique élevée. Ce sont des ondes incompressibles, car, contrairement aux ondes sonores, elle ne s'accompagnent d'aucune variations de la pression dans le fluide. En se propageant, l'onde

The Alfvenic nature of chromospheric swirls

Andrea Francesco Battaglia, Aleksi Antoine Bossart

Context. Observations show that small-scale vortical plasma motions are ubiquitous in the quiet solar atmosphere. They have received increasing attention in recent years because they are a viable candidate mechanism for the heating of the outer solar atmospheric layers. However, the true nature and the origin of these swirls, and their effective role in the energy transport, are still unclear.Aims. We investigate the evolution and origin of chromospheric swirls by analyzing numerical simulations of the quiet solar atmosphere. In particular, we are interested in finding their relation with magnetic field perturbations and in the processes driving their evolution.Methods. The radiative magnetohydrodynamic code CO5BOLD is used to perform realistic numerical simulations of a small portion of the solar atmosphere, ranging from the top layers of the convection zone to the middle chromosphere. For the analysis, the swirling strength criterion and its evolution equation are applied in order to identify vortical motions and to study their dynamics. As a new criterion, we introduce the magnetic swirling strength, which allows us to recognize torsional perturbations in the magnetic field.Results. We find a strong correlation between swirling strength and magnetic swirling strength, in particular in intense magnetic flux concentrations, which suggests a tight relation between vortical motions and torsional magnetic field perturbations. Furthermore, we find that swirls propagate upward with the local Alfven speed as unidirectional swirls driven by magnetic tension forces alone. In the photosphere and low chromosphere, the rotation of the plasma co-occurs with a twist in the upwardly directed magnetic field that is in the opposite direction of the plasma flow. All together, these are clear characteristics of torsional Alfven waves. Yet, the Alfven wave is not oscillatory but takes the form of a unidirectional pulse. The novelty of the present work is that these Alfven pulses naturally emerge from realistic numerical simulations of the solar atmosphere. We also find indications of an imbalance between the hydrodynamic and magnetohydrodynamic baroclinic effects being at the origin of the swirls. At the base of the chromosphere, we find a mean net upwardly directed Poynting flux of 12.86.5 kW m(-2), which is mainly due to swirling motions. This energy flux is mostly associated with large and complex swirling structures, which we interpret as the superposition of various small-scale vortices.Conclusions. We conclude that the ubiquitous swirling events observed in numerical simulations are tightly correlated with perturbations of the magnetic field. At photospheric and chromospheric levels, they form Alfven pulses that propagate upward and may contribute to chromospheric heating.

EDP SCIENCES S A2021

The Alfvenic nature of chromospheric swirls

Andrea Francesco Battaglia, Aleksi Antoine Bossart

EDP SCIENCES S A2021

The Alfvenic nature of chromospheric swirls

An experimental study of Alfvén wave heating using electrostatically shielded antennas in TCA

Parasitic antenna loading measurements and a comparison between shielded and unshielded antenna excitation during Alfvén wave heating in TCA

Parasitic antenna loading measurements and a comparison between shielded and unshielded antenna excitation during Alfvén wave heating in TCA

The Alfvenic nature of chromospheric swirls

An experimental study of Alfvén wave heating using electrostatically shielded antennas in TCA