Hi Leonardo and community,
I have noticed that the density and velocity structure of the wind can change quite a bit depending on the initial_f_ion parameter of the hydrogen.ion_fraction() function, via the mean molecular weight structure (and thus mu_bar). At first I thought that since initial_f_ion only fixes the value at the lower boundary, the value wouldn't matter too much, since the rest of the radial domain would be self-consistently solved and thus be relatively insensitive to the value at the boundary. However, when I run a generic planet, the mean molecular weight structure is different throughout a very large portion of the radial domain (see attached figure). The density structure changes by a factor ~2 depending on the value of initial_f_ion. In the figure, I've also added a simulation where I run p-winds's output structure through Cloudy, and use the mean molecular weight structure reported by Cloudy to calculate the mu_bar parameter and generate a new p-winds profile based on this value (until mu_bar converges in this way). This approach should give us a completely self-consistent mu_bar and outflow structure. I'm wondering if something similar would be possible with p-winds alone, without invoking Cloudy. Can p-winds somehow evaluate if the chosen initial_f_ion is "self-consistent" with the flow structure? And if not, do you have some insight in how to choose a reasonable value for initial_f_ion beforehand? As the Cloudy simulation shows, the flow cannot always be assumed to be completely atomic at the optical radius. I hope anyone has some ideas here!
Thanks!
Dion
Hi Leonardo and community,
I have noticed that the density and velocity structure of the wind can change quite a bit depending on the
initial_f_ionparameter of thehydrogen.ion_fraction()function, via the mean molecular weight structure (and thusmu_bar). At first I thought that sinceinitial_f_iononly fixes the value at the lower boundary, the value wouldn't matter too much, since the rest of the radial domain would be self-consistently solved and thus be relatively insensitive to the value at the boundary. However, when I run a generic planet, the mean molecular weight structure is different throughout a very large portion of the radial domain (see attached figure). The density structure changes by a factor ~2 depending on the value ofinitial_f_ion. In the figure, I've also added a simulation where I run p-winds's output structure through Cloudy, and use the mean molecular weight structure reported by Cloudy to calculate themu_barparameter and generate a new p-winds profile based on this value (untilmu_barconverges in this way). This approach should give us a completely self-consistentmu_barand outflow structure. I'm wondering if something similar would be possible with p-winds alone, without invoking Cloudy. Can p-winds somehow evaluate if the choseninitial_f_ionis "self-consistent" with the flow structure? And if not, do you have some insight in how to choose a reasonable value forinitial_f_ionbeforehand? As the Cloudy simulation shows, the flow cannot always be assumed to be completely atomic at the optical radius. I hope anyone has some ideas here!Thanks!
Dion