Thermally conductive flows in coronal holes

Abstract

Polytropic solar wind flows in flow tubes whose cross-sectional area increases faster with radius than for a radial expansion have been studied by Kopp and Holzer (1976). Their use of a faster-than-radial expansion proved promising in analytically associating the high-speed streams observed near 1 AU with the relatively low values of electron densities observed in the lower corona. They could not, however, obtain quantitative agreement with observations. We have extended their work to include thermal conduction and have compared thermally conductive and polytropic flows in the lower corona for given high-speed conditions at 1 AU. The thermally conductive flows (calculated using the Spitzer (1962) thermal conductivity) do yield closer agreement with observations, although the predicted electron density is still too low and the predicted temperature is too high. We also considered a modified thermal conductivity which decreases more rapidly with increasing radius than does the Spitzer value. Again the results were improved, but the agreement could not be termed quantitative. We conclude that thermal conduction alone will not explain solar wind flows originating in coronal holes and that some other mechanism (such as wave pressure) is necessary.