MAGNETOSEISMOLOGY: EIGENMODES OF TORSIONAL ALFVEN WAVES IN STRATIFIED SOLAR WAVEGUIDES

There have recently been significant claims of Alfven wave observation in the solar chromosphere and corona. We investigate how the radial and longitudinal plasma structuring affects the observational properties of torsional Alfven waves in magnetic flux tubes for the purposes of solar magnetoseismology. The governing magnetohydrodynamic equations of these waves in axisymmetric flux tubes of arbitrary radial and axial plasma structuring are derived and we study their observable properties for various equilibria in both thin and finite-width magnetic flux tubes. For thin flux tubes, it is demonstrated that observation of the eigenmodes of torsional Alfven waves can provide temperature diagnostics of both the internal and surrounding plasma. In the finite-width flux tube regime, it is shown that these waves are the ideal magnetoseismological tool for probing radial plasma inhomogeneity in solar waveguides.