Boundary Treatment for the Subsonic/Alfvénic Inner Boundary at 2.5 R ⊙ in a Time-dependent 3D Magnetohydrodynamics Solar Wind Simulation Model

Abstract

A new magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulation model of the global solar corona and solar wind is presented. The model covers the range of heliocentric distance from 2.5 solar radii, so that coronal mass ejections at the earliest phase near the Sun can be treated in the future. This model is constructed by introducing a characteristics-based boundary treatment to an existing heliosphere 3D MHD model. In tailoring a set of characteristic equations for this new model, we assume that the coronal magnetic field is open to interplanetary space and that the solar coronal plasma is flowing outward everywhere at 2.5 solar radii. The characteristic equations for the subsonic/Alfvénic inner boundary surface are satisfied by altering the plasma density and/or temperature to maintain a polytropic relationship. In this article, the details of the characteristics-based boundary treatment for the middle of the corona (named CharM) are provided. The quasi-steady states of the solar wind derived from simulations with various choices of a parameter in the boundary treatments are compared and examined. Although further improvements are needed, we apply the new boundary treatment to simulations for three Carrington rotation periods from the minimum to maximum phase of the solar activity cycle, and show that an optimal choice yields a reasonable quasi-steady state of the transonic/Alfvénic solar wind matching the specified subsonic/Alfvénic plasma speed at 2.5 R _⊙ .

Keywords

• Solar wind
• Solar corona
• Magnetohydrodynamical simulations