The Solar Corona Through Numerical Eyes.

Abstract

The Sun and the Space environment serve as a natural laboratory to study the physics of ionized gas (plasma) under extreme conditions, which are nearly impossible to achieve using artificial experiments. Understanding the behavior of this environment has become more and more important with our growing dependency on space-based technology and the growing number of space exploration missions. As a consequence, the new concept of Space Weather, which characterizes the conditions in space, requires the development of forecasting tools to provide prediction of these conditions. In this work, I present a numerical study of the solar corona and the space environment. Numerical simulations are important, due to the fact that they provide a more accurate solution than the approximated analytical solution. This work has three main parts: 1) I develop a global MagnetoHydroDynamic (MHD) model for the ambient conditions in the solar corona and the inner heliosphere and validate it with long-term satellite data. This model provides preconditioning for Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and also can be used to study the large-scale evolution of the corona and the heliosphere. 2) I develop a flux-transport model for the solar surface to investigate the effect of magnetic reconnection on the transport of the Suns open magnetic flux. I show that this process can modify the surface meridional flow that is important in solar dynamo theory. 3) I simulate a Sun-to-Earth CME event in order to investigate the capabilities of the model to serve as an operational tool for space weather forecasting. This simulation demonstrates that it is possible and also addresses required improvements. This work is a step towards a better understanding of the space environment and the physics of the solar corona. I propose to further investigate the role of the open flux in the long-term, large-scale evolution of the solar and heliospheric magnetic field. I also propose to investigate the relations between the solar and stellar physics.