A RECONNECTION-DRIVEN RAREFACTION WAVE MODEL FOR CORONAL OUTFLOWS

Abstract

We conduct numerical experiments to determine whether interchange reconnection at high altitude coronal null points can explain the outflows observed as blueshifts in coronal emission lines at the boundaries between open and closed magnetic field regions. In this scenario, a strong, post-reconnection pressure gradient forms in the field-aligned direction when dense and hot, active region core loops reconnect with neighboring tenuous and cool, open field lines. We find that the pressure gradient drives a supersonic outflow and a rarefaction wave develops in both the open and closed post-reconnection magnetic field regions. We forward-model the spectral line profiles for a selection of coronal emission lines to predict the spectral signatures of the rarefaction wave. We find that the properties of the rarefaction wave are consistent with the observed velocity versus temperature structure of the corona in the outflow regions, where the velocity increases with the formation temperature of the emission lines. In particular, we find excellent agreement between the predicted and observed Fe XII 195.119 A spectral line profiles in terms of the blueshift (10 km s{sup -1}), full width at half-maximum (83 mA) and symmetry. Finally, we find that T{sub i} < T{sub e} in the open field region, which indicates that the interchange reconnection scenario may provide a viable mechanism and source region for the slow solar wind.