Physics – Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
Nov 1997
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997aps..dppgtp104a&link_type=abstract
American Physical Society, Division of Plasma Physics Meeting, November 17-21, 1997, abstract #gTuaP104.
Physics
Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
An outstanding problem in solar physics has been to understand how the solar corona can be so much hotter than the underlying photosphere. Most contemporary coronal heating models require that magnetic energy be transformed into heat through the generation of small scale current structures in the corona. This work is no exception; a simple model is proposed for the heating of low-β, low resistivity plasmas, such as the solar corona, which possess highly tangled magnetic fields, and which respond to external stresses very slowly compared to a typical Alfven crossing time. In the model, the plasma is considered to evolve ``quasi-statically,'' i.e. arbitrarily close to equilibrium at all stages in its evolution. The heating is assumed to follow from the formation of current sheets, which are sheet-like regions of very high current density. These current sheets must satisfy stringent topological requirements, however. Special attention is given to the role of magnetic nulls, or points where the magnetic field vanishes, in determining where current sheets can form in the coronal plasma and where enhanced heating can occur.
Albright Brian
Cowley Steven
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