2008/02/24 by B. P. Pandey, J. Vranješ, J. Vranjes +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13144.x
5 Figures and 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRAS
arxiv created 2008/02/24 · openalex publication_date 2008/04/08 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The solar photosphere is a partially ionized medium with collisions between electrons, various metallic ions and neutral hydrogen playing an important role in the momentum and energy transport in the medium. Furthermore, the number of neutral hydrogen atoms could be as large as 104 times the number of plasma particles in the lower photosphere. The non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effects, namely Ohm, ambipolar and Hall diffusion, can play an important role in the photosphere. We demonstrate that Hall is an important non-ideal MHD effect in the solar photosphere and show that the Hall effect can significantly affect the excitation and propagation of the waves in the medium. We also demonstrate that the non-ideal Hall-dominated inhomogeneous medium can become parametrically unstable, and it could have important ramifications for the photosphere and chromosphere of the Sun. The analysis hints at the possibility of the solar photosphere becoming parametrically unstable against the linear fluctuations.