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Observationally quantified reconnection providing a viable mechanism for active region coronal heating
Kai E Yang1,2,3, Dana W Longcope2, M D Ding4,5
1School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China.
Nature Communications
|February 17, 2018
Summary
Impulsive magnetic reconnection can quantitatively explain the Sun's coronal heating. This mechanism, driven by footpoint velocity differences, successfully models extreme-ultraviolet observations, supporting its role in solar atmospheric dynamics.
Area of Science:
- Solar physics
- Plasma astrophysics
- Magnetohydrodynamics
Background:
- The Sun's corona is heated by mechanisms like wave dissipation and magnetic reconnection.
- Previous models lacked quantitative agreement with observational data and measured inputs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantitatively model the Sun's active region corona using impulsive magnetic reconnection.
- To validate impulsive reconnection as a primary driver of coronal heating.
Main Methods:
- Calculating heating power based on the non-ideal velocity (velocity difference between magnetic footpoints and photospheric plasma).
- Modeling the corona with a characteristic reconnection flux element length scale of approximately 160 km.
- Comparing model outputs (differential emission measure, synthesized images) with observational data.
Main Results:
- The model successfully reproduces active region corona characteristics matching extreme-ultraviolet observations.
- Calculated heating power correlates with the non-ideal velocity.
- Synthesized extreme-ultraviolet images exhibit realistic loop structures and intensity distributions.
Conclusions:
- Impulsive magnetic reconnection is a viable and quantitatively supported mechanism for heating the solar corona.
- The non-ideal velocity serves as a key parameter for estimating coronal heating power.
- This study provides compelling evidence linking specific reconnection dynamics to observed solar atmospheric phenomena.
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