ISSN:
1572-946X
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Physics
Notes:
Abstract Photospheric models were calculated for 90 stars with effective temperatures between 2500 K and 41600 K for five logg-values ranging from 1 to 5. Molecule formation was taken into account. In order to have an idea about possible instabilities in the different stellar layers some quantities, characteristic for convection and turbulence were calculated, such as the Rayleigh-, Reynolds-, Prandtl- and Péclet-numbers. It turned out that all the investigated stars contain unstable layers, including the hottest. Nevertheless, only stars with effective temperatures of 8300 K or less contain layers where the convective energy transport is important. For all stars the convective velocities were calculated and also the generated mechanical fluxes in the convection zones were tabulated. Under the hypothesis that this mechanical energy flux is responsible for the heating of the corona, coronal models were constructed for the Sun and for some stars with effective temperatures between 5000 K and 8320 K for logg-values of 4 or 5. For Main Sequence stars the largest fluxes are generated in F-stars; stars withT eff=7130 K and logg=4 possess also the hottest and most dense coronas with a computed temperature of 3.7·106 K and logN e =10.5. The solar corona computed in this way, on the basis of a photospheric mechanical flux of 0.14·108 erg cm−2 sec−1, has a temperature of 1.3·106 K and logN e =9.8. This density is apparently too high, but even when including in the computations all theoretical refinements proposed in the last few years by various authors it does not appear possible to obtain a solar coronal model with a smaller density. However, when taking into account the inhomogeneous structure of the chromosphere and by associating the calculated mechanical fluxes to the coarse mottles, and lower fluxes to the undisturbed regions we find a mean coronal temperature of 1.1·106 K and a mean logN e -values of 9. The computed velocity of the solar wind at a distance of 104 km above the photosphere has a value between 7 and 11 km sec−1. These latter values are in fair agreement with the observations.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00653620
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