3D Magnetohydrodynamic Wave Propagation and Energy Transport in a Simulated Solar Vortex

Magnetic flux tubes in the presence of background rotational flows are abundant throughout the solar atmosphere and may act as conduits for MHD waves to transport energy throughout the solar atmosphere. Here we investigate the contribution from MHD waves to the Poynting flux in a 3D numerical simulation of a realistic solar atmosphere, modeling a structure resembling a solar vortex tube, using the PLUTO code in the presence of different plasma flow configurations. These simulations feature a closed magnetic loop system where a rotational flow is imposed at one footpoint in addition to photospheric perturbations acting as a wave driver mimicking those of p-modes. We find that a variety of MHD waves exist within the vortex tube, including sausage, kink, and torsional Alfvén waves, owing to the photospheric wave driver and the nature of the rotational flow itself. We demonstrate how the visual interpretation of different MHD modes becomes nontrivial when a background rotational flow is present compared to a static flux tube. By conducting a simulation both with and without the rotational plasma flow, we demonstrate how the perturbed Poynting flux increases in the presence of the rotational flow as the waves transport increased magnetic energy. We attribute this increase to the dynamical pressure from the rotational flow increasing the plasma density at the tube boundary, which acts to trap the wave energy more effectively inside the vortex. Moreover, we demonstrate how the Poynting flux is always directed upward in weakly twisted magnetic flux tubes.