HR: 0830h
AN: SH11D-1134    [PDF]
TI: Solar Wind Scaling Law
AU: * Schwadron, N A
EM: nschwadron@swri.edu
AF: Southwest Research Institute, PO Drawer 28510, San Antonio, TX 78228-051 United States
AU: McComas, D J
EM: dmccomas@swri.edu
AF: Southwest Research Institute, PO Drawer 28510, San Antonio, TX 78228-051 United States
AB: We discuss a simple, robust scaling law, which explains naturally how the well-known anti-correlation between final solar wind speed and freezing-in temperature results from loss of radiated energy in the corona. Further, if the Sun injects roughly fixed electromagnetic energy per particle, this law provides a unified theory for the source of solar wind: fast tenuous solar wind from dark coronal holes; slow dense wind from hotter, brighter regions; and bound but unstable plasma in extremely hot regions, which may be related to solar transients. The scaling law is not an extension, or a new variant of previous solar wind models, but rather, a requirement on all solar wind models, which should apply quite generally to magnetically driven winds. Thus, this presentation reveals an underlying connection between the solar wind and its coronal source.
DE: 2164 Solar wind plasma
DE: 2169 Sources of the solar wind
DE: 7509 Corona
DE: 7511 Coronal holes
DE: 7847 Radiation processes
SC: SPA - Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting