Theoretical Models of the Solar Chromosphere, Transition Region and Wind

研究人员将确定哪些加热机制在太阳大气的不同区域起主导作用。主要工作是构建描述整个太阳大气的新颖理论模型。观测表明，太阳大气可分为三个主要区域：色球区、过渡区和日冕。在这些区域中的每一个，温度都随着高度的增加而增加，并在日冕达到最高值，日冕是X射线发射和太阳风的发源地。太阳物理学中最重要但仍未解决的问题之一是确定导致这种加热的基本物理过程。这种供暖至少有两种通用的模型。在第一类中，太阳大气受到流体动力(主要是声波)或磁流体动力(MHD)波的加热，并假设这些波是由太阳对流区的湍流运动产生的。在第二类中，太阳磁场的光球运动产生的电流的耗散是加热的主要能量来源。尽管在多次地面观测和太空任务中收集了大量的太阳数据，并做出了重大的理论努力，但仍然不清楚太阳大气的不同区域实际上是如何加热的。研究人员将通过构建描述整个太阳大气的理论模型，采取一种新的方法来解决这个问题。通过将这些模型与观测结果进行比较，他们将确定哪些加热机制在太阳大气的不同区域起主导作用。他们的工作对于了解太阳大气层的主要能源和创造日光层的基本物理过程的持续努力将是重要的。

The investigators will determine which heating mechanisms dominate in different regions of the solar atmosphere. The main effort is to construct novel theoretical models that will describe the entire solar atmosphere. Observations show that the solar atmosphere can be divided into three main regions: chromosphere, transition region and corona. In each of these regions the temperature increases with height and reaches its maximum in the corona, where both X-ray emission and the solar wind originate. One of the most important, and still unsolved, problems in solar physics is to identify the basic physical processes that are responsible for this heating. There are at least two general classes of models of this heating. In the first class, the solar atmosphere is heated by hydrodynamic (mainly acoustic) or magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves, and it is assumed that these waves are generated by turbulent motions in the solar convection zone. In the second class, dissipation of currents generated by photospheric motions of solar magnetic fields is the primary source of energy for the heating. Despite the vast amount of solar data collected during numerous ground observations and space missions, and significant theoretical efforts, it is still unclear how different regions of the solar atmosphere actually are heated. The investigators will take a novel approach to this problem by constructing theoretical models that describe the entire solar atmosphere. By comparing these models with observations, they will determine which heating mechanisms dominate in different regions of the solar atmosphere. Their work will be important in ongoing efforts to understand the principal energy sources for the solar atmosphere and the basic physical processes responsible for creating the heliosphere.