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The Aging Solar Wind: a Break in Wind Evolution at Older Ages?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2018

Dúalta Ó Fionnagáin Open the ORCID record for Dúalta Ó Fionnagáin [Opens in a new window]  and
Aline A. Vidotto Open the ORCID record for Aline A. Vidotto [Opens in a new window]
Dúalta Ó Fionnagáin
Affiliation:
School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland email: [email protected]
Aline A. Vidotto
Affiliation:
School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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The current solar wind is well studied from remote observations and in situ measurements. However, we have very little information of the solar wind as it has evolved. We investigate the evolution of the solar wind by modeling the winds of solar analogues. By using X-ray temperatures as proxies for wind temperatures, we find that a break in behaviour occurs. At 2 Gyr there is a sharp decline in coronal temperatures, which results in a steep decay in mass loss rates for older stars. As the wind is responsible for stellar spin down, through angular momentum loss due to magnetised winds, our results suggest a decline in angular momentum loss for older stars. This agrees with recent observations which find anomalously high rotation rates in older stars. We also find that this evolution in the wind has adverse effects on the Earth’s magnetosphere, with an Earth aged 100 Myr having a magnetosphere 3 Earth radii in size.

Keywords

Late-type starsstars: windsoutflowsSun: solar wind
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 13 , Symposium S335: Space Weather of the Heliosphere: Processes and Forecasts , July 2017 , pp. 98 - 101
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2018 

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