THE EFFECTS OF HIGH-FREQUENCY ALFVEN WAVES ON CORONAL HEATING AND SOLAR-WIND ACCELERATION

Wave effects in a two-fluid model for the solar corona and wind are st udied. Heating and acceleration are achieved by high-frequency Alfven waves, which are assumed to be created through small-scale reconnectio ns in the chromospheric network. The wave energy flux F-w is given in the model as a lower boundary condition. Waves with a power spectrum o f the form P-0(f/f(0))(-1) in the frequency range from 1 to 800 Hz and with P-0 = 40 x 10(11) nT(2)/Hz and f(0) = 10(-5) Hz, corresponding t o an integrated amplitude of 35 km/s, can heat the corona to a tempera ture of 10(6) K at r = 1.2 R(circle dot), and 2.6 x 10(6)K (the maximu m) at r = 2 R(circle dot), starting from 4 x 10(5) K at r = 1 R(circle dot). Thermal and wave pressure gradients accelerate the wind to spee ds of 100 km/s at r = 1.2 R(circle dot), and 212 km/s at r = 2 R(circl e dot), starting from 2 km/s at r = 1 R(circle dot) in a rapidly diver ging stream tube. Asymptotic wind speeds in the observed range of 700 to 800 km/s at 0.3 AU are obtained with wave amplitudes of 30 to 37 km /s in the frequency range from 1 to 30 Hz, corresponding to P-0 = 90 x 10(11) nT(2)/Hz.