MULTI-FLUID MODEL OF A STREAMER AT SOLAR MINIMUM AND COMPARISON WITH OBSERVATIONS

We present the results of a time-dependent 2.5-dimensional three-fluid magnetohydrodynamic model of the coronal streamer belt, which is compared with the slow solar wind plasma parameters obtained in the extended corona by the UV spectroscopic data from the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) on board SOHO during the past minimum of solar activity (Carrington Rotation 1913). Our previous three-fluid streamer model has been improved by considering the solar magnetic field configuration relevant for solar minimum conditions, and preferential heating for O5 + ions. The model was run until a fully self-consistent streamer solution was obtained in the quasi-steady state. The plasma parameters from the multi-fluid model were used to compute the expected UV observables from H I Lyα 1216 A and O VI 1032 A spectral lines, and the results were compared in detail with the UVCS measurements. A good agreement between the model and the data was found. The results of the study provide insight into the acceleration and heating of the multi-ion slow solar wind