2002/03/11 by B. V. Gudiksen, Boris V. Gudiksen, Gudiksen, Boris V. +2
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies #Geophysics and Gravity Measurements #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0203167
4 pages, 3 figures, accepted by ApJL. See online talk: http://online.itp.ucsb.edu/online/solar02/gudiksen/
openalex publication_date 2002/03/11 · arxiv created 2002/05/07 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The heating of the solar corona and the puzzle of the slender high reaching magnetic loops seen in observations from the Transition Region And Coronal Explorer(TRACE) has been investigated through 3D numerical simulations, and found to be caused by the well observed plasma flows in the photosphere displacing the footpoints of magnetic loops in a nearly potential configuration. It is found that even the small convective displacements cause magnetic dissipation sufficient to heat the corona to temperatures of the order of a million Kelvin. The heating is intermittent in both space and time - at any one height and time it spans several orders of magnitude, and localized heating causes transonic flows along field lines, which explains the observed non-hydrostatic equilibrium of loops that are bright in emission measure.