Coronal Magnetic - Field Model with Nonspherical Source Surface.

Abstract

Previous global models of coronal magnetic fields have used a geometrical construction based on a spherical source surface because of requirements for computational speed. As a result they have had difficulty accounting for the tendency of full magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models to predict non-radial plasma flow out to r about 10 solar radii and the appreciable magnitude, about 3 gamma, of Br (the radial component of B) consistently observed at r about 1 AU. A new modelling technique based on a nonspherical source surface is presented, which is taken to be an isogauss of the underlying potential field generated by currents in or below the photosphere. This modification of the source surface significantly improves the agreement between the geometrical construction and the MHD solution while retaining most of the computational ease provided by a spherical source surface.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 25, 1978
Accession Number
ADA054618

Entities

People

  • Donald J. Boucher Jr.
  • Edward N. Frazier
  • Michael Schulz

Organizations

  • The Aerospace Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Sensors
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Chemistry
  • Construction
  • Cosmic Rays
  • Curvature
  • Geometry
  • Latitude
  • Lepidoptera
  • Longitude
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Materials
  • Materials Science
  • Security
  • Solar Wind
  • Space Sciences
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Wind Velocity

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics
  • Solar Physics