Scientific expertise and role in the project

The Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Oslo has experience in modeling the corona-solar wind system. The group is focusing on coronal heating and acceleration of the coronal plasma into a solar wind. Most of their studies have been carried out using hydrodynamic equations, but higher-order moment fluid equations as well as kinetic equations have been used to study processes in the chromosphere-corona transition region and the solar wind.

The Oslo group has treated formation of the corona and acceleration of the solar wind as one problem. They place their inner boundary in the upper chromosphere and specify the coronal energy input. Then the structure of the transition region and the corona as well as the solar wind mass flux and flow speed are uniquely determined. This type of study has been used to investigate how the solar wind changes with amplitude and location of the coronal heat input. The studies have been carried out for stationary heating. The group plans to study models with time-dependent coronal heating. These time-dependent model studies may be helpful in the development of MHD models to study CMEs. The group will develop a higher order-moment fluid description, and a long term goal would be to merge the higher-order moment fluid equations with the equations for the magnetic field into an advanced MHD-like description. The group will provide information to the MHD modeling done at other institutions about the energy balance in the corona-solar wind system.