CORONAL HEATING AND PLASMA PARAMETERS AT 1-AU

A three-fluid description of the solar wind is used to investigate the mass flux, helium abundance and flow speeds at 1 AU as a function of heat input in the inner corona. The solar wind model includes continui ty, momentum and energy equations for each of the three species, elect rons, protons, and alpha particles. The energy equations contain param eterized heat sources for any of the three species. The energy equatio n for the electrons also includes radiation losses in the transition r egion. We study the effect of heating different particle species. We s how that for a given set of plasma parameters at the coronal base, hea ting the electrons, protons and alpha particles, or all three species, can result in the same mass flux, helium abundance and proton flow sp eed at 1 AU, yet very different plasma properties in the inner corona. The plasma parameters we consider are characteristic of the high spee d solar wind.