Newtonian CAFE: a new ideal MHD code to study the solar atmosphere

Abstract

We present a new code designed to solve the equations of classical ideal magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD) in three dimensions, submitted to a constant gravitational field. The purpose of the code centers on the analysis of solar phenomena within the photosphere-corona region. We present 1D and 2D standard tests to demonstrate the quality of the numerical results obtained with our code. As solar tests we present the transverse oscillations of Alfvenic pulses in coronal loops using a 2.5D model, and as 3D tests we present the propagation of impulsively generated MHD-gravity waves and vortices in the solar atmosphere. The code is based on high-resolution shock-capturing methods, uses the HLLE flux formula combined with Minmod, MC and WENO5 reconstructors. The divergence free magnetic field constraint is controlled using the Flux Constrained Transport method.