Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
May 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009spd....40.1201v&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, SPD meeting #40, #12.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.828
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Scientific paper
The solar coronal heating problem refers to the question why the temperature of the Sun's corona is more than two orders of magnitude higher than that of its surface. Almost 70 years after the discovery, this puzzle is still one of the major challenges in astrophysics. The current basic paradigm of coronal heating is unable to explain all the observational features of the heating.
As a matter of fact, a coronal heating model must fulfill a lot of requirements. First of all, it should be consistent with the measured energy losses in the solar corona due to conduction and radiation, i.e. it should 1) not only provide the right amount of energy but 2) do so at the right times scales, e.g. about 5x10**3 J/(m**2s) in active regions. Moreover, it should 3) include the source of the required energy, and 4) work everywhere in the corona, i.e. for all magnetic structures (with different heating requirements). Furthermore, it should be able 5) to explain the observed temperature anisotropy (Tperp > Tpar), 6) be more effective on ions than on electrons (Ti > Te), and 7) heat heavier ions more efficiently than lighter ions. None of the proposed heating mechanisms so far even claimed to fulfil all these model requirements.
Here we argue that a new paradigm is required to solve the puzzle in a self-consistent manner. The alternative approach is based on the kinetic theory which provides a microscopic description of the plasma processes, including those on the dissipation length scale. We also show, with qualitative and quantitative arguments, that the drift waves that are characteristic of this new model have the potential to satisfy all the above-mentioned requirements for a coronal heating mechanism.
Poedts Stefaan
Vranjes Jovo
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