Chromospheric Evaporation via Alfvén Waves

Haerendel, Gerhard, Chromospheric Evaporation via Alfvén Waves, ApJ, 707, 903-915 (2009) (ADS)

The cartoon

(click on the image for a larger version)

This cartoon, one of several in this important paper, discusses issues related close to the Archivist's heart and the Fletcher-Hudson suggestion of major flare energy transport via wave flux. Here the author has put together a relatively complete scenario for how coronally excited Alfvén waves can facilitate another of a flare's major energy rearrangements, namely the transport of matter from the chromosphere up into the corona where it has no right to be. How this works, and how the material gets strongly heated at the same time, remain core problems.

      The similarity with a bar magnet here is a welcome reflection on the magnetic nature of solar activity. Also note the subtle but helpful rendering of perspective on the lettering "chromosphere".

Date: 2008 January 01

Update: 2010 November 22