2006/12/21 by S. Wedemeyer-Böhm, O. Steiner, Wedemeyer-Böhm, S. +6 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0612627
10 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the Coimbra Solar Physics Meeting on The Physics of Chromospheric Plasmas, 2006, eds. P. Heinzel, I. Dorotovic, and R. J. Rutten
arxiv created 2006/12/21 · openalex publication_date 2006/12/21 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
It is widely believed that the heating of the chromosphere in quiet-Sun internetwork regions is provided by dissipation of acoustic waves that are excited by the convective motions close to the top of the convection zone and in the photospheric overshoot layer. This view lately became challenged by observations suggesting that the acoustic energy flux into the chromosphere is too low, by a factor of at least ten. Based on a comparison of TRACE data with synthetic image sequences for a three-dimensional simulation extending from the top layers of the convection zone to the middle chromosphere, we come to the contradicting conclusion that the acoustic flux in the model provides sufficient energy for heating the solar chromosphere of internetwork regions. The role of a weak magnetic field and associated electric current sheets is also discussed.