We investigate possibilities of solar coronal heating by acoustic waves generated not at the photosphere but in the corona, aiming at heating in the midto low-latitude corona where the low-speed wind is expected to come from. Acoustic waves of period τ ∼ 100s are triggered by chromospheric reconnection, one model of small scale magnetic reconnection events recently proposed by Sturrock. These w...

In this paper we carry out numerical modeling of coronal jets to understand their effects on the global corona and their contribution to the solar wind. We simulated jet models implemented within a well established three dimensional, two-temperature magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) solar corona model that is built upon kinetic Alvén wave dissipation, producing realistic solar wind background. The jet...

A kinetic model of the solar wind based on Kappa velocity distribution functions for the electrons and protons escaping out of the corona is presented. The high velocity particles forming the tail of these distribution functions have an enhanced phase space density compared to a Maxwellian. The existence of such velocity distribution functions have been introduced in the pioneering work of Scud...

Mechanisms for the deposition of heat in the lower coronal plasma are discussed, emphasizing recent attempts to reconcile the Ñuid and kinetic perspectives. Structures at magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) scales may drive a nonlinear cascade, preferentially exciting high perpendicular wavenumber Ñuctuations. Relevant dissipative kinetic processes must be identiÐed that can absorb the associated energy ...

[1] It took the solar polar passage of Ulysses in the early 1990s to establish the global structure of the solar wind speed during solar minimum. However, it remains unclear if the solar wind is composed of two distinct populations of solar wind from different sources (e.g., closed loops which open up to produce the slow solar wind) or if the fast and slow solar wind rely on the superradial exp...

Originating from the early 1920's, the so-called Biefeld-Brown effect claims the generation of thrust in capacitor configurations exposed to high voltage. This thrust was claimed to be not due to corona wind phenomena and also exists in vacuum. These claims, although only published in patents, survived until recent publications for very advanced propulsion concepts. This paper reviews Brown's a...

We present in this Letter the first coordinated radio occultation measurements and ultraviolet observations of the inner corona below 5.5 R,, obtained during the Galileo solar conjunction in January 1997, to establish the origin of the slow solar ~vind. Limits on the flow speed are derived from the Doppler dimming of the resonantly scattered component of the oxygen 1032 and 1037 ~ lines as meas...

Measurements of the charge states of solar wind ions by the SWICS instrument on Ulysses are used to place limits on the extent to which the velocity distribution of electrons in the lower solar corona deviates from a Maxwellian distribution by having a suprathermal tail. It is found that the data are consistent with a suprathermal tail which is not large, and which has a minor influence on the ...

We revisit in more detail a model for element abundance fractionation in the solar chromosphere, that gives rise to the “FIP Effect” in the solar corona and wind. Elements with first ionization potential below about 10 eV, i.e. those that are predominantly ionized in the chromosphere, are enriched in the corona by a factor 3-4. We model the propagation of Alfvén waves through the chromosphere u...

The shocks in the solar corona and interplanetary (IP) space caused by fast Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are simulated numerically and their structure and evolution is studied in the framework of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). Due to the presence of three characteristic velocities and the anisotropy induced by the magnetic field, CME shocks generated in the lower corona can have a complex structu...