The Principal Investigator (PI) plans to study the origin and evolution of the Quiet Sun magnetic field and atmosphere by performing 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the combined convection zone-to-corona system. The computational domain will include the highly stratified layers of the upper convection zone, photosphere, chromosphere, transition region, and low-corona (from approximately 3 Mm below the visible surface, out to the low-density, magnetically-dominated corona).
The proposing team will develop a new numerical code, capable of simultaneously evolving these spatially and temporally disparate regimes, to address whether the magnetic field generated by a convective surface dynamo can account for the observed properties of the Quiet Sun magnetic field and atmosphere. The new code would also model the magnetic connectivity between sub-surface magnetic structures and the magnetic field that fills the solar corona. The investigators will study the sizes and spatial distribution of magnetic elements in the combined system, the topological evolution of the magnetized corona, the energy and magnetic helicity transport through the solar atmosphere, the dissipation of energy in the corona, and the radiative energies and diagnostics from the corona and other layers of the atmosphere.
The simulated datasets that will result from this study can be used to directly test helioseismic inversion techniques, commonly-used velocity inversion techniques designed to obtain surface flows, and the many extrapolation techniques used to characterize the magnetic structure of the solar corona. In addition, the studies outlined in this proposal will greatly aid in the analysis and interpretation of high-resolution observations obtained by instruments such as Hinode, SDO, SOLIS, and ATST.
