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Can slow solar shock waves heat the corona?

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Abstract

Based on the solution to a generalized Riemann-Kotchine problem, the appearance of dissipative slow shock waves in the plasma of the solar corona, which occur when rotational discontinuities are refracted at a contact discontinuity in the transition region between the chromosphere and corona, is studied. The oblique interaction between a solar rotational discontinuity A and stationary contact discontinuity C in the transition region is considered in the scope of the magnetohydrodynamic model. Here, due to the presence of a large number of nonlinear Alfvén waves, there is a real possibility of the appearance of a rotational discontinuity moving to the solar corona in the chromosphere. The appearance of dissipative slow MHD shock waves with an insignificant change in the magnetic field as a result of refraction of nondissipative rotational discontinuities at a contact discontinuity in the transition region is proved. It is supposed that a wave source of plasma heating can exist in upper layers of the corona because of the motion of slow shock waves undergoing the Landau damping. Thus, a new model of heat transfer from the chromosphere to the solar corona is proposed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Central (Pulkovo) Astronomical Observatory, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pulkovskoe sh. 65, St. Petersburg, 196140, Russia

    S. A. Grib

  2. Moscow State Industrial University, Avtozavodskaya ul. 16, Moscow, 115280, Russia

    E. A. Pushkar’

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  1. S. A. Grib
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  2. E. A. Pushkar’
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Correspondence to S. A. Grib.

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Grib, S.A., Pushkar’, E.A. Can slow solar shock waves heat the corona?. Geomagn. Aeron. 54, 991–995 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016793214080052

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016793214080052

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