Internal Gravity Waves in the Magnetized Solar Atmosphere. II. Energy Transport

In this second paper of the series on internal gravity waves (IGWs), we present a study of the generation and propagation of IGWs in a model solar atmosphere with diverse magnetic conditions. A magnetic field-free and three magnetic models that start with an initial, vertical, homogeneous field of 10, 50, and 100 G magnetic flux density, are simulated using the CO⁵BOLD code. We find that the IGWs are generated in similar manner in all four models in spite of the differences in the magnetic environment. The mechanical energy carried by IGWs is significantly larger than that of the acoustic waves in the lower part of the atmosphere, making them an important component of the total wave energy budget. The mechanical energy flux (10⁶-10³ W m^-2) is a few orders of magnitude larger than the Poynting flux (10³-10¹ W m^-2). The Poynting fluxes show a downward component in the frequency range corresponding to the IGWs, which confirm that these waves do not propagate upward in the atmosphere when the fields are predominantly vertical and strong. We conclude that, in the upper photosphere, the propagation properties of IGWs depend on the average magnetic field strength and therefore these waves can be potential candidates for magnetic field diagnostics of these layers. However, their subsequent coupling to Alfvénic waves is unlikely in a magnetic environment permeated with predominantly vertical fields, and therefore they may not directly or indirectly contribute to the heating of layers above plasma-β less than 1.