MHD simulation of the inner-heliospheric magnetic field

Maps of the radial magnetic field at a heliocentric distance of 10 solar radii are used as boundary conditions in the MHD code CRONOS to simulate a three-dimensional inner-heliospheric solar wind emanating from the rotating Sun out to 1 AU. The input data for the magnetic field are the result of solar surface flux transport modeling using observational data of sunspot groups coupled with a current-sheet source surface model. Among several advancements, this allows for higher angular resolution than that of comparable observational data from synoptic magnetograms. The required initial conditions for the other MHD quantities are obtained following an empirical approach using an inverse relation between flux tube expansion and radial solar wind speed. The computations are performed for representative solar minimum and maximum conditions, and the corresponding state of the solar wind up to the Earth's orbit is obtained. After a successful comparison of the latter with observational data, they can be used to drive outer-heliospheric models.