The Contribution of Coronal Jets to the Solar Wind

Abstract

Transient collimated plasma eruptions in the solar corona, commonly known as coronal (or X-ray) jets, are among the most interesting manifestations of solar activity. It has been suggested that these events contribute to the mass and energy content of the corona and solar wind, but the extent of these contributions remains uncertain. We have recently modeled the formation and evolution of coronal jets using a three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code with thermodynamics in a large spherical domain that includes the solar wind. Our model is coupled to 3D MHD flux-emergence simulations, i.e, we use boundary conditions provided by such simulations to drive a time-dependent coronal evolution. The model includes parametric coronal heating, radiative losses, and thermal conduction, which enables us to simulate the dynamics and plasma properties of coronal jets in a more realistic manner than done so far. Here we employ these simulations to calculate the amount of mass and energy transported by coronal jets into the outer corona and inner heliosphere. Based on observed jet-occurrence rates, we then estimate the total contribution of coronal jets to the mass and energy content of the solar wind to (0.4 − 3.0) % and (0.3-1.0) %, respectively. Our results are largely consistent with the few previous rough estimates obtained from observations, supporting the conjecture that coronal jets provide only a small amount of mass and energy to the solar wind. We emphasize, however, that more advanced observations and simulations are needed to substantiate this conjecture.

Solar Coronal Jets Extending to High Altitudes Observed during the 2017 August 21 Total Eclipse

“…However, it should be noted that Sako et al (2013) pointed out that the integrated energy of jets contributes to the solar wind for only about one percent, even if the energy of jet is integrated down to the unseen smallest jets on the assumption that all the jets contribute to the solar wind. The estimation based on the observations of jets by Yu et al (2014) and Pucci et al (2013) gave the results similar to that of Sako et al (2013), and based on a magnetohydrodynamic simulation, Lionello et al (2016) also obtained the result that the contribution of jets to the mass and energy of the solar wind is around one percent. As shown above, our analysis shows that the mass flux of the eclipse jets is consistent with that of the soft X-ray jets.…”

Low-frequency Alfvén Waves Produced by Magnetic Reconnection in the Sun’s Magnetic Carpet

“…Thus, the primary conclusion of Cranmer & van Ballegooijen (2010) was that RLO energy-release processes probably are not responsible for the majority of either the fast or slow solar wind. Similar conclusions have been found by others (Karachik & Pevtsov 2011;Lionello et al 2016), but the intermittent jetlike fluctuations generated by RLO processes are likely to be important in other ways.…”

Observation and modelling of solar jets

“…Török et al [326] and Lionello et al [327] performed a 3D, viscous, resistive MHD simulation in spherical coordinates. The simulation domain covered the corona from 1 R⊙ to 20, and the effects of radiative losses, thermal conduction parallel to the magnetic field and an empirical coronal heating function were all considered.…”