Solar Wind Acceleration in Coronal Holes

Abstract

This paper reviews the current state of our understanding of high-speed solar wind acceleration in coronal holes. Observations by SOHO, coupled with interplanetary particle measurements going back several decades, have put strong constraints on possible explanations for how the protons, electrons, and minor ions receive their extreme kinetic properties. The asymptotic plasma conditions of the wind depend on energy and momentum deposition both at the coronal base (where, e.g., the mass flux is determined) and in the extended acceleration region between 2 and 10 solar radii (where the plasma becomes collisionless and individual particle species begin to exhibit non-Maxwellian velocity distributions with different moments). The dissipation of magnetohydrodynamic fluctuations (i.e., waves, turbulence, and shocks) is believed to dominate the heating in the extended corona, and spectroscopic observations from the UVCS instrument on SOHO have helped to narrow the field of possibilities for the precise modes, generation mechanisms, and damping channels. We will survey recent theoretical and observational results that have contributed to new insights, and we will also show how next-generation instruments can be designed to identify and characterize the dominant physical processes to an unprecedented degree.