Coronal heating and
energetics
Global structure of the solar corona
Coronal heating, what does it mean?
Dissipation processes in the corona
Observations of MHD waves in loops
Dynamics of the magnetic network
Flares and coronal heating
X-ray
corona
Yohkoh SX
3-5 Million K
Active corona in three EUV
colours
Coronal heating, what does it
mean?
Mechanical and
magnetic energy:
Generation/release
Transport/propagatio
n
Magnetoconvection,
restructuring of fields
and magnetic
reconnection
Magnetohydrodynamic
+ plasma waves,
shocks
Ohmic +
Corona in late May 2002
2000000
1.3
K
1300000
K
MK
SOHO EIT
EIT
FeFeIX,X
IX,X17.1
17,1 nm
Fe IX,X 17.1 nm
nm
Energetics of the solar
corona
Parameter
Coronal Active
(erg cm-2s-1)
hole
(open)
Chromospheric 4 106
radiation loss
region
(closed)
2 107
Radiation
104
< 106
Conduction
5 104
105 106
Solar wind
(5-10) 105 ( < 105 )
Photosphere: 6.3 10
cm2s1
10
erg
105 erg cm2s
1
=100Wm2
Multiply ionized atoms
indicate temperature
gradient
Peter, 2002
North coronal hole in various
lines
1400000
K
FeXII 1242
1100000
K
MgX 624.9
230000 K
OV 629.7
180000 K
NV 1238.8
Forsyth & Marsch, Space Sci. Rev., 89, 7,
1999
10000 K
SUMER/SOHO 10 August 1996
How is the solar corona
heated?
Walsh,
2002
Collisional heating
rates
Chromosphere: N = 1010 cm-3 hG = 400
km
Perturbation scales: L = 200
km, B = 1 G, V = 1 km/s, T = 1000
K
Viscosity:
Conduction:
HV = (V/L)2 = 2 10-8
HC = T/(L)2 = 3 10-7
Joule:
HJ = j2/ = (c/4)2(B/L)2/ = 7
10-7
Radiative cooling: CR = N2(T) = 10-1 erg
cm-3 s-1
Smaller scale, L 200 m,
Coll 1
required
Electrons and Coulomb
collisions
Solar wind,
Helios
Non-Maxwellian
Heat flux tail
Pilipp et al.,
JGR, 92, 1075,
1987
Temperature
anisotropy
Perpendicular filamentary
structure in fine loops and
coronal emission
1. Filamentary nature
of loops is
consequence of fine
solar surface fields....
2. Transient localised
heating with
threshold.....
3. Non-classical
diffusive
perpendicular
transport
by
Litwin & Rosner,
turbulence
ApJ 412, 375, too slow....
1993
Relative rarity of loops, high
contrast
Well-defined transverse
Requirements on coronal
transport
Coronal plasma beta is low, 0.1 - 001, -->
strongly magnetized particles, which move
freely parallel to B.
Coulomb collisional transport, then diffusion
coefficient:
Dc = ( e)2 e 1 m2s-1
with electron Larmor radius, e 25 cm, and
collision frequency, e 10 s-1; p 10 m, B 1 G,
only by anomalous processes:
ne Enhanced
108 cm-3transport
.
Waves, turbulence, drifts, flows, stochastic fields,
hyperresistivity.....
Litwin &
Rosner, ApJ
412, 375,
1993
Loop switch-on time: 1-10 s. Is the current
channel scale comparable to transverse loop
dimension,
a 1000 km? Cross
diffusion time: tD = a2/D 1012 s.
Coronal heating - an unsolved
problem
Why
?
Incomplete and insufficient diagnostics:
Only remote-sensing through photons (Xrays, extreme ultraviolet (EUV), visible,
infrared) and electromagnetic waves (radio,
plasma), and corpuscular radiation (solar
wind, energetic particles)
No coronal in-situ measurements, such as
possible in other solar system plasmas
(Earths magnetosphere, solar wind,.......)
Corona and magnetic
network
80000 K
SOHO EIT
199
6
He II 30.4
nm
Magnetic network loops and
funnels
Structure of transition
region
FB = AB
FM = AV
section
Dowdy et al.,
Solar Phys.,
105, 35,
1986
Magnetic field of coronal
funnel
A(z) = flux tube cross
Hackenberg, Marsch and
Mann, Space Sci. Rev., 87,
207, 1999
Dynamic network and
magnetic furnace by
reconnection
Static
field
Waves
out
Gabriel
(1976)
Loops
down
Axford and McKenzie, 1992, and
Space Science Reviews, 87, 25,
1999
Picoflare
?
New flux fed in at sides
by convection (t ~ 20
minutes)
FE = 107 erg cm-2 s-1
EUV jets and reconnection
in the magnetic network
Evolution of a jet in Si IV
1393 visible as blue
and red shifts in SUMER
spectra
E-W step size 1" , t =
5s
Jet head
moves
1" in
60 s
Innes at el., Nature, 386, 811,
1997
1/da
y
Solar
oscillations
velocity
spectrum
5-minutes
oscillation
s, 0.0033
Hz
Pmodes
10-6
10-2
Cortes,
1998
Loops, loops and
more loops
TRACE
Characteristic time scales
for the evolution of loops
Dynamic time scale for restoration of pressure
equilibrium:
tdyn = L/cs = 1.1 L9/T61/2 [minutes]
Conductive time scale for exchange of thermal energy:
tcon = 3nkBT l2/(2cT7/2) = 30 n10l92/T65/2 7(l9/L9)2
tdyn
Radiative time scale for cooling by radiation losses:
Legend:
length; l, gradient5/3scale
, sound
trad = L,3nloop
/n10 length;
= 35 Tc6s1/6
tdyn
ekBT/(nenH(T) 5 T6
speed; T, loop temperature; (T), radiative loss function; L9 =
109 cm = 10 000 km; T6 = 106 K; n10 = 1010 cm-3; c = thermal
conductivity.
Schrijver et al., Solar Phys. 187, 261,
1999
Oscillations of magnetic flux
tube
CT = CSVA(CS2+VA2)-1/2
VA = B/(4)1/2
B
compressibl
e
Magneti
c and
thermal
pressur
e
incompressib
le
Magneti
c
curvatur
e force
(tension
MHD wave heating
Process
Period/s
Alfvn/fast
<5
magnetosonic
Coronal magnetic field rooted
down in turbulent
photosphere
=> Waves!
Generation of MHD waves
driven by magnetoconvection
Phase mixing due to
Sound/slow < 200
magnetosonic
Gravity
Conduction
Radiation
Convection
40
600
3000
> 300
Wave spectrum generation
by turbulent shaking of flux
tubes
Here is the
mixing
length, =
H, with
barometric
scale height
H.
Photosphere:
Thin flux
H=300
km.
tube
oscillations
-> torsional
Alfvn
waves&
Musielak
Ulmschneider, A&A,
386, 606, 2002
Coronal mass
ejections
- longitudinal
spreads?
- origin and
directions?
- global distribution?
Schwenn et al., 1998,
2000
LASCO on SOHO, helical
CME
Coronal mass
ejections
Active flare
loops
The
stormy
Sun
Prominenc
e
Light
bulb
Coronal heating: a
buzzword
Coronal heating?
closed
magnetic
loops are
observed at a
wide range of
temperatures
diffuse
corona
radiating at 2
MK is not
confined to
bright
loops
Small
brightenings at
a range of
wavelenths
polar plumes are
observed at
coronal
temperatures in
open magnetic
structure, the
special energy
coronal holes
requirements in cool (104
K) prominence
Time and space
Coronal heating - an unsolved
problem
Why
?
Facing complexity and variability:
Solar corona is non-uniform and highly
structured
Corona varies in time (magnetic activity
cycle)
Temporal and spatial changes occur on all
scales
Corona is far from thermal (collisional)
The elusive coronal magnetic
field
Future: High-resolution imaging and spectroscopy (35 km pixels) of the corona
Modelling by
extrapolation:
Loops (magnetic carpet)
Open coronal funnels
MHD model of coronal magnetic
field
close
d
open
Linker et al., JGR, 104, 9809,
1999
Elephants trunk coronal
hole
Coronal cooling, what does it
mean?
Heating and cooling
varies spatially and
temporally!
Radiative cooling:
quiet emissions, flares,
blinkers, brightenings, in
UV, EUV, and X-rays
Cooling through
particles: solar wind,
energetic ions and
Dense
plasma in
magnetic +
gravitational
confinement
Dilute
plasma
escaping on
Fast solar wind
parameters
Energy flux at 1 RS:
s-1
FE = 5 105 erg cm-2
Speed beyond 10 RS:
s-1
Vp = (700 - 800) km
Proton flux at 1 AU:
np Vp = 2 108 cm-2 s-
Density at 1 AU:
0.04
np = 3 cm-3 ;
n/np =
Temperatures at 1 AU:
Schwenn and Marsch, 1990,
1991 T = 3 105 K
p
T = 106 K ;
Te = 1.5 105 K
Corona of the active
sun
199
8
EIT - LASCO
C1/C2
Thermodynamics of the
corona
Entropy balance (advective change equals other
entropy productions):
s/t + Vs =
ds/dt|R + ds/dt|J + ds/dt|V + ds/dt|C + ds/dt|M
Energy fluxes (in steady state the total flux is free
of divergence):
(FK + FG + FR + FJ + FV + FC + FM ) = 0
Kinetic + gravitational + radiative + ohmic + viscous + conductive +
mechanical
Electron temperature in the
corona
Streamer
belt, closed
Coronal
hole, open
magneticall
y
David et al.,
A&A, 336, L90,
1998
Heliocentric distance
SUMER/CDS
SOHO
Temperature profiles in the
corona and fast solar wind
S
P
( Si
7+
)
SO
Ti ~ mi/mp Tp
( He
2+
)
Coron
a
Cranmer et al., Ap.J., 2000; Marsch,
1991
Solar
wind
Pitch-angle diffusion of
solar wind protons
VDF contours
are segments of
circles centered
in the wave
frame (< VA )
Helio
s
Velocity-space
resonant diffusion
caused by the
cyclotron-wave field!
Marsch and Tu,
JGR, 106, 8357,
2001
Energy balance in the
corona
Coronal loops:
Energy balance mainly between radiative cooling and
mechanical heating
V s = ds/dt|R + ds/dt|M + ds/dt|C
Coronal holes:
Energy balance mainly between solar-wind losses and
mechanical heating
(FK + FG + FM ) = 0
FM = Vsw (V2sw + V2)/2
km/s
V = 618
Magnetic loops on the
Sun
TRACE
Thin strands, intrinsically dymnamic and continously
evolving,
Intermittent heating (in minutes), primarily within 1020 Mm,
Meandering of hot strings through coronal volume,
Pulsed injection of cool material from chromosphere
Empirical scaling laws for
loops
L(T) ~ T
n(T) ~ T2
p(T) ~ T3
E(T) ~ T6
Scale height for loop footpoints: heq(T) ~
T-1/2 Lower cutoff: Lmin = 5 Mm, Emin =
HX
RS
XR
EU
V
Aschwanden, Solar
Phys. 190, 233,
1999
Coronal heating
mechanisms I
Wave (AC) mechanisms (generation, propagation, nonuniformity)
Sound waves, shocks (barometric stratification), turbulence
Magnetoacoustic (body, surface), Alfvn (resonance
absorption)
Current
Plasmasheet
(dispersive)
waves (Landau
damping),
ion-cyclotron
(DC) mechanism
(formation
of sheets,
flux
waves
emergence)
Quasistatic current sheet formation in force-free fields
Dynamic formation driven by flux emergence
Field-aligned currents (ohmic and anomalous resistivity)
Heating by micro/nano/pico flares (magnetic field reconnection)
Thermalization of energetic particles (Bremsstrahlung: radio
to X-rays)
Reconnection driven by colliding magnetic flux
Coronal heating
mechanisms
II
Resonant absoption of
magnetoacoustic surface waves on a
field gradient
Phase mixing leads
to current sheets and
small scale gradients
-> dissipation
Generation of small
scales by wave front
tilting
Ulmschneider,
1998
Coronal heating
mechanisms III
Pressure
equilibrium: pe = pi
+ Bi2/8
Gas pressure: pe 1
dyn/cm2 Equipartition field:
Bi 1 kG
Generation by
turbulence
Wave mode couplings
Shearing
motion
Turbulent
heating
Decay into smaller
vortices or flux
tubes
Heyvaerts & Priest,
1983
Coronal heating
mechanisms
IV
Heating by kinetic plasma waves
Absorption of high-frequency
waves
Anisotropic
protons in
solar wind
Wave generation and transport?
Damping rate:
f/v
Landau damping:
v=0
-k
Cyclotron damping: - k v
=0
Advantage:
Processes occur at small
scales, near the ion inertial length or
gyroperiod,
l = VA/ , = 2/
Problem: Velocity distribution are
unknown; in-situ evidence for non-
electrons
with
supratherm
al tails
Measuring thermal structure of
loops
Yohkoh/SXT observations
Spatially uniform heating
Priest
et
al.,
Apr
19,
2000
20
45
Conclusions on thermal
structure
Thermal loop structure is
a possible heating
diagnostic.
But one must be careful
on the interpretation of
hydrostatic and LTE
models.
Possible observational solutions
Follow T(s) evolving in time, not just snapshots
Spectrometer and imager working together (more in the
future)
Keep spectrometer slit at one position -> temporal
variations only
Velocity and density tracking as indicators of dynamics
Ubiquitous magnetic
reconnection
Parkers (1988)
nanoflare
concept
Power-law of
flare frequency f
against energy
E
f(E) = f0E-
Spectral index, < -2, for nanoflare dominated
heating
Self-organised criticality :
Corona is modeled as an externally driven,
dissipative dynamical system
Larger catastrophes are triggered by a chain
reaction of many smaller events
Solar flare in the
corona
Activ
e
loops
SOHO
EIT
Flar
e
Flare frequency (10-50 s-1 cm-2 erg-1)
Flare
energy
spectra
(power
laws)
Exponent
Number
2.02-2.42
2.53-2.50
(K)
4497 (P)
11150
1.79 (0.08)
281 (A)
1.74
291 (S)
1.54
Suns
(C)
2878
luminosity
3.38 1033 erg/s
f = E-
Flare energy E (erg)
Aschwande
n et al.,
2000
Plethora of
Brightenings
Active region transient brightenings (SXT), Explosive
events (SUMER),
EUV brightenings (EIT, TRACE), Blinkers (CDS).
Explosive events (Innes et al.,
1997)
Blinkers (Harrison,
1997)
2 x 105 K
2 x 105 K
60 s
1000 s
160 kms-1
20 kms-1
Impulsively driven
oscillations
TRACE
Period/s
136-649
Decay
time/s 2001200
Amplitude/k
m 100-9000
Schrijver et al. (2002) and Aschwanden et al.
(2002) provide extensive overview and analysis
of 17 cases of flare-excited transversal
oscillations of coronal loops.
Detection of longitudinal
waves
Intensity (density)
variation: Slow
magnetoacoustic waves
TRACE
Loop images
in Fe 171
at 15 s
cadence
De Moortel
et al.,
2000
Loop oscillation
properties
Parameter
Footpoint length
Range
10.2 - 49.4 Mm
Footpoint width
3.9 - 14.1 Mm
Transit period
1.3 - 6.3 s
Propagation speed
65 - 205 km s-1
Relative amplitude
0.7 - 14.6 %
Damping length
Energy flux
De Moortel,
Ireland and Walsh,
2002
2.9 - 18.9 Mm
195 - 705 mW m-2
Statistical overview of the ranges of the
physical properties of 38 longitudinal
oscillations detected at the base of large
coronal loops (1 RS = 700 Mm).
Distance along slit (110000
km)
Loop oscillations in the solar
corona
Fe XIX
radiance
50 arcsec
above
limb
Wang et al.,
2002
Time (240
Fe XIX 1118
Doppler shift
2000/09/2
9
Time
Oscillations:
blue <-->
red
Coronal heating:
Summary
Corona, a restless, complex
non-uniform plasma
environment dominated by
magnetic field
Evidence for quasiperiodic oscillations
through the solar
atmosphere and in loops
Small-scale brightenings in a
range of wavelengths and
with power-law distribution
in energy
Heating mechanisms remain
unknown!
