Coronal Bright Points (CBPs) are sets of small-scale coronal loops, connecting opposite magnetic polarities, primarily characterized by their enhanced extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) and X-ray emission. Being ubiquitous, they are thought to play an important role in heating the solar corona. We aim at characterizing the barely-explored chromosphere underneath CBPs, focusing on the related spicular activity and on the effects of small-scale magnetic flux emergence on CBPs. We used high-resolution observations of a CBP in H$β$ and Fe I 617.3 nm from the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST) in coordination with the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). This work presents the first high-resolution observation of spicules imaged in H$β$. The spicules were automatically detected using advanced image processing techniques, which were applied to the Dopplergrams derived from H$β$. Here we report their abundant occurrence close to the CBP ``footpoints", and find that the orientation of such spicules is aligned along the EUV loops, indicating that they constitute a fundamental part of the whole CBP magnetic structure. Spatio-temporal analysis across multiple channels indicates that there are coronal propagating disturbances associated with the studied spicules, producing transient EUV intensity variations of the individual CBP loops. Two small-scale flux emergence episodes appearing below the CBP were analyzed; one of them leading to quiet-sun Ellerman bombs and enhancing the nearby spicular activity. This paper presents unique evidence of the tight coupling between the lower and upper atmosphere of a CBP, thus helping to unravel the dynamic phenomena underneath CBPs and their impact on the latter.
Coronal loops act as resonant cavities for low frequency fluctuations that are transmitted from the deeper layers of the solar atmosphere and are amplified in the corona, triggering nonlinear interactions. However trapping is not perfect, some energy leaks down to the chromosphere, thus limiting the turbulence development and the associated heating. We consider the combined effects of turbulence and leakage in determining the energy level and associated heating rate in models of coronal loops which include the chromosphere and transition region. We use a piece-wise constant model for the Alfve…
A magnetohydrodynamic model is used to determine conditions under which the Lorentz force accelerates plasma to type 2 spicule speeds in the chromosphere. The model generalizes a previous model to include a more realistic pre-spicule state, and the vertical viscous force. Two cases of acceleration under upper chromospheric conditions are considered. The magnetic field strength for these cases is <= 12.5 and 25 G. Plasma is accelerated to terminal vertical speeds of 66 and 78 km/s in 100 s, compared with 124 and 397 km/s for the case of zero viscosity. The flows are localized within horizontal …
The Sun's corona is millions of degrees hotter than its 5,000 K photosphere. This heating enigma is typically addressed by invoking the deposition at coronal heights of non-thermal energy generated by the interplay between convection and magnetic field near the photosphere. However, it remains unclear how and where coronal heating occurs and how the corona is filled with hot plasma. We show that energy deposition at coronal heights cannot be the only source of coronal heating, by revealing a significant coronal mass supply mechanism that is driven from below, in the chromosphere. We quantify t…
Alfvén waves are responsible for the transfer of magnetic energy in the magnetized plasma. They are involved in heating solar atmosphere and driving solar wind through various nonlinear processes. Since the magnetic field configurations directly affect the nonlinearity of Alfvén waves, it is important to investigate how they relate to the solar atmosphere and wind structure through the nonlinear propagation of Alfvén waves. In this study, we carried out the one-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations to realize the above relation. The results show that when the nonlinearity of Alfvén waves…
Recent observational and numerical studies show a variety of thermal structures in the solar chromosphere. Given that the thermal interplay across the transition region is a key to coronal heating, it is worth investigating how different thermal structures of the chromosphere yield different coronal properties. In this work, by MHD simulations of Alfvén-wave heating of coronal loops, we study how the coronal properties are affected by the chromospheric temperature. To this end, instead of solving the radiative transfer equation, we employ a simple radiative loss function so that the chromosphe…
We revisit in more detail a model for element abundance fractionation in the solar chromosphere, that gives rise to the "FIP Effect" in the solar corona and wind. Elements with first ionization potential below about 10 eV, i.e. those that are predominantly ionized in the chromosphere, are enriched in the corona by a factor 3-4. We model the propagation of Alfven waves through the chromosphere using a non-WKB treatment, and evaluate the ponderomotive force associated with these waves. Under solar conditions, this is generally pointed upwards in the chromosphere, and enhances the abundance of ch…
A three-dimensional MHD model for the propagation and dissipation of Alfven waves in a coronal loop is developed. The model includes the lower atmospheres at the two ends of the loop. The waves originate on small spatial scales (less than 100 km) inside the kilogauss flux elements in the photosphere. The model describes the nonlinear interactions between Alfven waves using the reduced MHD approximation. The increase of Alfven speed with height in the chromosphere and transition region (TR) causes strong wave reflection, which leads to counter-propagating waves and turbulence in the photospheri…
We report on a detailed radiative transfer modeling of the observed scattering polarization in the H-alpha line, which allows us to infer quantitative information on the magnetization of the quiet solar chromosphere. Our analysis suggests the presence of a magnetic complexity zone with a mean field strength <B> > 30 G lying just below the sudden transition region to the coronal temperatures. The chromospheric plasma directly underneath is very weakly magnetized, with <B> ~ 1 G. The possible existence of this abrupt change in the degree of magnetization of the upper chromosphere of the quiet Su…
Context. It is known that Alfvén and magnetoacoustic waves both contribute to the heating of the solar chromosphere and drive plasma outflows. In both cases, the thermalization of the wave energy occurs due to ion-neutral collisions, but the obtained rates of plasma heating cannot explain the observational data. The same is true for the magnitudes of the outflows. Aims. The aim of the present paper is to reexamine two-fluid modeling of Alfvén and magnetoacoustic waves in the partially ionized solar chromosphere. We attempt to detect variations in the ion temperature, and vertical plasma flows …
In this study, we investigate the spatial distribution of highly varying plasma composition around one of the largest sunspots of solar cycle 24. Observations of the photosphere, chromosphere, and corona are brought together with magnetic field modelling of the sunspot in order to probe the conditions which regulate the degree of plasma fractionation within loop populations of differing connectivities. We find that in the coronal magnetic field above the sunspot umbra, the plasma has photospheric composition. Coronal loops rooted in the penumbra contain fractionated plasma, with the highest le…
The million degree plasma of the solar corona must be supplied by the underlying layers of the atmosphere. The mechanism and location of energy release, and the precise source of coronal plasma, remain unresolved. In earlier work we pursued the idea that warm plasma is supplied to the corona via direct heating of the chromosphere by nanoflares, contrary to the prevailing belief that the corona is heated in-situ and the chromosphere is subsequently energized and ablated by thermal conduction. We found that single (low-frequency) chromospheric nanoflares could not explain the observed intensitie…
The effect of the numerical spatial resolution in models of the solar corona and corona / chromosphere interface is examined for impulsive heating over a range of magnitudes using one dimensional hydrodynamic simulations. It is demonstrated that the principle effect of inadequate resolution is on the coronal density. An underresolved loop typically has a peak density of at least a factor of two lower than a resolved loop subject to the same heating, with larger discrepencies in the decay phase. The temperature for under-resolved loops is also lower indicating that lack of resolution does not "…
I review some recent advances in methods to diagnose polarized radiation with which we may hope to explore the magnetism of the solar chromosphere and corona. These methods are based on the remarkable signatures that the radiatively induced quantum coherences produce in the emergent spectral line polarization and on the joint action of the Hanle and Zeeman effects. Some applications to spicules, prominences, active region filaments, emerging flux regions and the quiet chromosphere are discussed.
Before the onset of a flare is observed in hard X-rays there is often a prolonged pre-flare or pre-heating phase with no detectable hard X-ray emission but pronounced soft X-ray emission suggesting that energy is being released and deposited into the corona and chromosphere already at this stage. This work analyses the temporal evolution of coronal source heating and the chromospheric response during this pre-heating phase to investigate the origin and nature of early energy release and transport during a solar flare. Simultaneous X-ray, EUV, and microwave observations of a well observed flare…
Recent dedicated Hinode polar region campaigns revealed the presence of concentrated kilogauss patches of magnetic field in the polar regions of the Sun which are also shown to be correlated with facular bright points at the photospheric level. In this work, we demonstrate that this spatial intermittency of the magnetic field persists even up to the chromospheric heights. The small-scale bright elements visible in the bright network lanes of solar network structure as seen in the Ca ii H images are termed as network bright points. We use special Hinode campaigns devoted to observe polar region…
The flash spectrum of the solar chromosphere and corona was measured with a slitless spectrograph before, after, and during the totality of the solar eclipse, of 11 July 2010, at Easter Island, Chile. This eclipse took place at the beginning of the Solar Cycle 24, after an extended minimum of solar activity. The spectra taken during the eclipse show a different intensity ratio of the red and green coronal lines compared with those taken during the total solar eclipse of 1 August 2008, which took place towards the end of the Solar Cycle 23. The characteristic coronal forbidden emission line of …
Turbulence and its Potential Impact on Solar Chromospheric and Coronal Heating
The University of Alabama in Huntsville（阿拉巴马大学亨茨维尔分校）；Los Alamos National Laboratory（洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室）；NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center（美国国家航空航天局/马歇尔太空飞行中心）
We perform MHD modeling of a single bright coronal loop to include the interaction with a non-uniform magnetic field. The field is stressed by random footpoint rotation in the central region and its energy is dissipated into heating by growing currents through anomalous magnetic diffusivity that switches on in the corona above a current density threshold. We model an entire single magnetic flux tube, in the solar atmosphere extending from the high-beta chromosphere to the low-beta corona through the steep transition region. The magnetic field expands from the chromosphere to the corona. The ma…
The connection between nuclear fusion in the Sun's core and solar irradiance is obscured among other things by uncertainty over the mechanism of coronal heating. Data for solar wind density and velocity, sunspot number, and EUV flux suggest that electromagnetic energy from the Sun's convection zone is converted by induction through the chromosphere into thermal energy. The helium and hydrogen mixture exhaled by the Sun is then heated by the inverse Joule-Thomson effect when it expands via the corona into space. The almost complete shutdown of the solar wind on 10-11 May 1999 demonstrated that …
Chromosphere of the quiet sun: II. Atmospheric response to small-scale magnetic flux emergence
University of Oslo（奥斯陆大学）；KU Leuven（荷语鲁汶大学）；Sorbonne Université（索邦大学）；Observatoire de Paris – PSL（巴黎天文台-PSL）；École Polytechnique（巴黎综合理工学院）；Institut Polytechnique de Paris（巴黎理工学院）；CNRS（法国国家科学研究中心）
The chromosphere is a complex region that acts as an intermediary between the magnetic flux emergence in the photosphere and the magnetic features seen in the corona. Large eruptions in the chromosphere of flares and filaments are often accompanied by ejections of coronal mass off the sun. Several studies have observed fast-moving progressive trains of compact bright points (called Sequential Chromospheric Brightenings or SCBs) streaming away from chromospheric flares that also produce a coronal mass ejection (CME). In this work, we review studies of SCBs and search for commonalties between th…
This analysis begins to explore the complex chromosphere-corona mass cycle using a blend of imaging and spectroscopic diagnostics. Single Gaussian fits to hot emission line profiles (formed above 1MK) at the base of coronal loop structures indicate material blue-shifts of 5-10km/s while cool emission line profiles (formed below 1MK) yield red-shifts of a similar magnitude - indicating, to zeroth order, that a temperature-dependent bifurcating flow exists on coronal structures. Image sequences of the same region reveal weakly emitting upward propagating disturbances in both hot and cool emissio…
Preferential Appearance of H$α$ Moreton Waves along Photospheric Magnetic Network Boundaries
School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University（南京大学天文与空间科学学院）；Key Laboratory for Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nanjing University（南京大学现代天文与天体物理重点实验室）；State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Macau University of Science and Technology（澳门科技大学月球与行星科学国家重点实验室）
We numerically simulate emergence of a magnetic plasma blob into a solar coronal hole. This blob may be associated with granulation and therefore it has a weak magnetic field. Two-dimensional simulations are performed using the MAGNUS code which solves magnetohydrodynamic equations, taking into account magnetic resistivity and thermal conduction. As a result of the interaction of the emerging blob with the ambient plasma, the magnetic lines experience reconnection with the blob getting flattened and deformed with time. Additionally, this process launches a vertical outflow of hot plasma and th…
Alfvénic waves have been proposed as an important energy transport mechanism in coronal loops, capable of delivering energy to both the corona and chromosphere and giving rise to many observed features, of flaring and quiescent regions. In previous work, we established that resistive dissipation of waves (ambipolar diffusion) can drive strong chromospheric heating and evaporation, capable of producing flaring signatures. However, that model was based on a simplified assumption that the waves propagate instantly to the chromosphere, an assumption which the current work removes. Via a ray tracin…
Coronal loops are the basic structures of the solar transition region and corona. The understanding of physical mechanism behind the loop heating, plasma flows, and filling are still considered a major challenge in the solar physics. The mechanism(s) should be able to supply mass to the corona from the chromosphere and able to heat the plasma over 1 MK within the small distance of few hundred km from the chromosphere to the corona. This problem makes coronal loops an interesting target for detailed study. In this study, we focus on spectroscopic observations of a coronal loop, observed in its …
Most solar flares demonstrate a prolonged, hourlong post-flare (or gradual) phase, characterized by arcade-like, post-flare loops (PFLs) visible in many extreme ultraviolet (EUV) passbands. These coronal loops are filled with hot -- $\sim 30 \,\mathrm{MK}$ -- and dense plasma, evaporated from the chromosphere during the impulsive phase of the flare, and they very gradually recover to normal coronal density and temperature conditions. During this gradual cooling down to $\sim 1 \,\mathrm{MK}$ regimes, much cooler -- $\sim 0.01 \,\mathrm{MK}$ -- and denser coronal rain is frequently observed ins…
Sunspot light bridges (LBs) exhibit a wide range of short-lived phenomena in the chromosphere and transition region. In contrast, we use here data from the Multi-Application Solar Telescope (MAST), the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), Hinode, the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), and the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) to analyze the sustained heating over days in an LB in a regular sunspot. Chromospheric temperatures were retrieved from the the MAST Ca II and IRIS Mg II lines by nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium inversions. Line widths, Doppler shifts, and intensities w…
The optical and near-ultraviolet (NUV) continuum radiation in M dwarf flares is thought to be the impulsive response of the lower stellar atmosphere to magnetic energy release and electron acceleration at coronal altitudes. This radiation is sometimes interpreted as evidence of a thermal photospheric spectrum with $T \approx 10^4$ K. However, calculations show that standard solar flare coronal electron beams lose their energy in a thick target of gas in the upper and middle chromosphere (log$_{10}$ column mass /[g cm$^{-2}$] $\lesssim -3$). At larger beam injection fluxes, electric fields and …
Coronal Bright Points (CBPs) are ubiquitous structures in the solar atmosphere composed of hot small-scale loops observed in EUV or X-Rays in the quiet Sun and coronal holes. They are key elements to understand the heating of the corona; nonetheless, basic questions regarding their heating mechanisms, the chromosphere underneath, or the effects of flux emergence in these structures remain open. We have used the Bifrost code to carry out a 2D experiment in which a coronal-hole magnetic nullpoint configuration evolves perturbed by realistic granulation. To compare with observations, synthetic SD…
In solar physics, it is a big challenge to measure the magnetic fields directly from observations in the upper solar atmosphere, including the chromosphere and corona. Radio observations are regarded as the most feasible approach to diagnose the magnetic field in solar chromosphere and corona. However, because of the complexity and diversity of the emission mechanisms, the previous studies have only presented the implicit diagnostic functions of the magnetic field for specific mechanism from solar radio observations. This work collected and sorted out all methods for diagnosing coronal magneti…
We perform and analyze results of a global magnetohydrodyanmic (MHD) simulation of the fast coronal mass ejection (CME) that occurred on 2011 March 7. The simulation is made using the newly developed Alfvén Wave Solar Model (AWSoM), which describes the background solar wind starting from the upper chromosphere and extends to 24 R$_{\odot}$. Coupling AWSoM to an inner heliosphere (IH) model with the Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF) extends the total domain beyond the orbit of Earth. Physical processes included in the model are multi-species thermodynamics, electron heat conduction (both …
Recent progress in instrumentation enables solar observations with high resolution simultaneously in the spatial, temporal, and spectral domains. We use such high-resolution observations to study small-scale structures and dynamics in the chromosphere of the quiet Sun. We analyze time series of spectral scans through the Ca II 854.2nm spectral line obtained with the CRISP instrument at the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope. The targets are quiet Sun regions inside coronal holes close to disc-centre. The line core maps exhibit relatively few fibrils compared to what is normally observed in quiet Sun …
Rapid and stepwise changes of the magnetic field are often observed during flares but cannot be explained by models yet. Using a 45 min sequence of SDO/HMI 135 s fast-cadence vector magnetograms of the X1 flare on 2014-03-29 we construct, at each timestep, nonlinear force-free models for the coronal magnetic field. Observed flare-related changes in the line-of-sight magnetic field $B_{\rm LOS}$ at the photosphere and chromosphere are compared with changes in the magnetic fields in the models. We find a moderate agreement at the photospheric layer (the basis for the models), but no agreement at…
We perform magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations to investigate the propagation of Alfven wave in magnetic chromosphere. We use the 1.5-dimensional expanding flux tube geometry setting and transverse perturbation at the bottom to generate the Alfven wave. Compared with previous studies, our expansion is that we include the radiative loss term introduced by Carlsson & Leenaarts (2012). We find that when an observation based transverse wave generator is applied, the spatial distribution of the time-averaged radiative loss profile in our simulation is consistent with that in the classic atmospher…
We present observations of persistent oscillations of some bright features in the upper-chromosphere/transition-region above sunspots taken by IRIS SJ 1400 Å and upward propagating quasi-periodic disturbances along coronal loops rooted in the same region taken by AIA 171 Å passband. The oscillations of the features are cyclic oscillatory motions without any obvious damping. The amplitudes of the spatial displacements of the oscillations are about 1 $^{"}$. The apparent velocities of the oscillations are comparable to the sound speed in the chromosphere, but the upward motions are slightly larg…
Using radiation magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the solar atmospheric layers from the upper convection zone to the lower corona, we investigate the self-consistent excitation of slow magneto-acoustic body waves (slow modes) in a magnetic flux concentration. We find that the convective downdrafts in the close surroundings of a two-dimensional flux slab "pump" the plasma inside it in the downward direction. This action produces a downflow inside the flux slab, which encompasses ever higher layers, causing an upwardly propagating rarefaction wave. The slow mode, excited by the adiabatic compre…
The Interferometric Bidimensional Spectrometer (IBIS) installed at the Dunn Solar Telescope of the NSO/SP is used to investigate the morphology and dynamics of the lower chromosphere and the virtually non-magnetic fluctosphere below. The study addresses in particular the structure of magnetic elements that extend into these layers. We choose different quiet Sun regions in and outside coronal holes. In inter-network regions with no significant magnetic flux contributions above the detection limit of IBIS, we find intensity structures with the characteristics of a shock wave pattern. The magneti…
We developed a {\sl coronal non-linear force-free field (COR-NLFFF)} forward-fitting code that fits an approximate {\sl non-linear force-free field (NLFFF)} solution to the observed geometry of automatically traced coronal loops. In contrast to photospheric NLFFF codes, which calculate a magnetic field solution from the constraints of the transverse photospheric field, this new code uses coronal constraints instead, and this way provides important information on systematic errors of each magnetic field calculation method, as well as on the non-forcefreeness in the lower chromosphere. In this s…
Understanding the relationship among different emission components plays an essential role in the study of particle acceleration and energy conversion in solar flares. In flares where gradual and impulsive emission components can be readily identified the impulsive emission has been attributed to non-thermal particles. We carry out detailed analysis of Hα and X-ray observations of a GOES class B microflare loop on the solar disk. The impulsive hard X-ray emission, however, is found to be consistent with a hot, quasi-thermal origin, and there is little evidence of emission from chromospheric fo…
The overall structure and the fine structure of the solar photosphere outside active regions are largely understood, except possibly important roles of a turbulent near-surface dynamo at its bottom, internal gravity waves at its top, and small-scale vorticity. Classical 1D static radiation-escape modelling has been replaced by 3D time-dependent MHD simulations that come closer to reality. The solar chromosphere, in contrast, remains ill-understood although its pivotal role in coronal mass and energy loading makes it a principal research area. Its fine structure defines its overall structure, s…
Even in quiet areas underneath coronal holes the solar chromosphere contains ubiquitous heating events. They tend to be small scale and short lived, hence difficult to identify. Here we do not address their much-debated contribution to outer-atmosphere heating, but their aftermaths. We performed a statistical analysis of high-resolution observations in the Balmer H-alpha line to suggest that many slender dark H-alpha fibrils spreading out from network represent cooling gas that outlines tracks of preceding rapid type II spicule events or smaller similar but as yet unresolved heating agents in …
In this paper, we report the observed temporal correlation between extreme-violet (EUV) emission and magneto-acoustic oscillations in a EUV moss region, which is the footpoint region only connected by magnetic loops with million-degree plasma. The result is obtained from a detailed multi-wavelength data analysis to the region with the purpose of resolving fine-scale mass and energy flows that come from the photosphere, pass through the chromosphere and finally heat solar transition region or the corona. The data set covers three atmospheric levels on the Sun, consisting of high-resolution broa…
In the solar atmosphere, Alfvén waves are believed to play an important role in the transfer of energy from the photosphere to the corona and solar wind, and in the heating of the chromosphere. We perform numerical computations to investigate energy transport and dissipation associated with torsional Alfvén waves propagating in magnetic flux tubes that expand from the photosphere to the corona in quiet-Sun conditions. We place a broadband driver at the photosphere that injects a wave energy flux of $10^7$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ and consider Ohm's magnetic diffusion and ion-neutral collisions a…
Coronal cells are visible at temperatures of ~ 1.2 MK in Fe XII coronal images obtained from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft. We show that near a filament channel, the plumelike tails of these cells bend horizontally in opposite directions on the two sides of the channel like fibrils in the chromosphere. Because the cells are rooted in magnetic flux concentrations of majority polarity, these observations can be used with photospheric magnetograms to infer the direction of the horizontal field in filament channels and the chir…
On the Relationship between Solar Spicules and Propagating Coronal Disturbances: The Role of Shocks
Udaipur Solar Observatory, Physical Research Laboratory（乌代浦尔太阳观测台，物理研究实验室）；Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar（印度理工学院，甘地纳加尔）；Indian Institute of Astrophysics（印度天体物理研究所）；Pondicherry University（本地治里大学）；School of Science, University of Newcastle（纽卡斯尔大学理学院）；Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Centre (SP2RC), School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Sheffield（谢菲尔德大学数学与物理科学学院太阳物理与空间等离子体研究中心）；Department of Astronomy, Eötvös Loránd University（罗兰大学天文系）；Gyula Bay Zoltán Solar Observatory (GSO), Hungarian Solar Physics Foundation (HSPF)（久洛·拜·佐尔坦太阳观测台，匈牙利太阳物理基金会）
Tau Bootis is a late F-type main sequence star orbited by a Hot Jupiter. During the last years spectropolarimetric observations led to the hypothesis that this star may host a global magnetic field that switches its polarity once per year, indicating a very short activity cycle of only one year duration. In our ongoing observational campaign, we have collected several X-ray observations with XMM-Newton and optical spectra with TRES/FLWO in Arizona to characterize tau Boo's corona and chromosphere over the course of the supposed one-year cycle. Contrary to the spectropolarimetric reconstruction…
The solar chromosphere and transition region (TR) form an interface between the Sun's surface and its hot outer atmosphere. Here most of the non-thermal energy that powers the solar atmosphere is transformed into heat, although the detailed mechanism remains elusive. High-resolution (0.33-arcsec) observations with NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) reveal a chromosphere and TR that are replete with twist or torsional motions on sub-arcsecond scales, occurring in active regions, quiet Sun regions, and coronal holes alike. We coordinated observations with the Swedish 1-m Solar T…
2.5-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations are performed with high spatial resolution in order to distinguish between competing models of the coronal heating problem. A single coronal loop powered by Alfvén waves excited in the photosphere is the target of the present study. The coronal structure is reproduced in our simulations as a natural consequence of the transportation and dissipation of Alfvén waves. Further, the coronal structure is maintained as the spatial resolution is changed from 25 to 3 km, although the temperature at the loop top increases with the spatial resolution.…
We present a new global model of the solar corona, including the low corona, the transition region and the top of chromosphere. The realistic 3D magnetic field is simulated using the data from the photospheric magnetic field measurements. The distinctive feature of the new model is incorporating the MHD Alfven wave turbulence. We assume this turbulence and its non-linear dissipation to be the only momentum and energy source for heating the coronal plasma and driving the solar wind. The difference between the turbulence dissipation efficiency in coronal holes and that in closed field regions is…
