Propagation of Sound and Thermal Waves in a Plasma with Solar Abundances

The phase velocity and the scale length for the damping of sound and thermal waves propagating in a plasma in thermal equilibrium are calculated as functions of the plasma temperature and the frequency of the driven wave. The plasma is assumed to be cooled by the standard cooling function for a plasma with solar abundances in the range of temperature 10 exp 4 to 10 exp 8 K. Five different kinds of heating mechanisms are analyzed, and applications to the solar atmosphere are outlined.