Validating a Time-Dependent Wave-Turbulence-Driven Model of the Solar Wind

Abstract

Although the mechanisms responsible for heating the Sun's corona and accelerating the solar wind are still being actively investigated, it is largely accepted that photospheric motions provide the energy source and that the magnetic field must play a key role in the process. \citet{2010ApJ...708L.116V} presented a model for heating and accelerating the solar wind based on the turbulent dissipation of Alfv\'en waves. We first use a time-dependent model of the solar wind to reproduce one of \citeauthor{2010ApJ...708L.116V}'s solutions; then we extend its application to the case when the energy equation includes thermal conduction and radiation losses, and the upper chromosphere is part of the computational domain. Using this model, we explore parameter space and describe the characteristics of a fast-solar-wind solution. We discuss how this formulation may be applied to a 3D MHD model of the coron a and solar wind \citep{2009ApJ...690..902L}.