Coronal Heating and the Magnetic Flux Content of the Network

Details Coronal Heating and the Magnetic Flux Content of the Network Coronal Heating and the Magnetic Flux Content of the Network

May 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agusm..sh31d06f&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2001, abstract #SH31D-06

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

7500 Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy, 7509 Corona, 7524 Magnetic Fields, 7529 Photosphere, 7549 Ultraviolet Emissions

Scientific paper

Previously, from analysis of SOHO/EIT coronal images in combination with Kitt Peak magnetograms (Falconer et al 1998, ApJ, 501, 386-396), we found that the quiet corona is the sum of two components: the large-scale corona and the coronal network. The large-scale corona consists of all coronal-temperature ( million-degree) structures larger than the width of a chromospheric network lane (> 10,000 km). The coronal network (1) consists of all coronal-temperature structures of the scale of the network lanes and smaller (< 10,000 km), (2) is rooted in and loosely traces the photospheric magnetic network, (3) has its brightest features seated on polarity dividing lines (neutral lines) in the network magnetic flux, and (4) produces only about 5% of the total coronal emission in quiet regions. The heating of the coronal network is apparently magnetic in origin. Here, from analysis of EIT coronal images of quiet regions in combination with magnetograms of the same quiet regions from SOHO/MDI and from Kitt Peak, we examine the other 95% of the quiet corona and its relation to the underlying magnetic network. We find: (1) Dividing the large-scale corona into its bright and dim halves divides the area into bright "continents" and dark "oceans" having spans of 2-4 supergranules. (2) These patterns are also present in the photospheric magnetograms: the network is stronger under the bright half and weaker under the dim half. (3) The radiation from the large-scale corona increases roughly as the cube root of the magnetic flux content of the underlying magnetic network. In contrast, Fisher et al (1998, ApJ, 508, 985-998) found that the coronal radiation from an active region increases roughly linearly with the magnetic flux content of the active region. We assume, as is widely held, that nearly all of the large-scale corona is magnetically rooted in the network. Our results, together with the result of Fisher et al (1998), suggest that either the coronal heating in quiet regions has a large non-magnetic component, or, if the heating is predominantly produced via the magnetic field, the mechanism is significantly different than in active regions. This work is funded by NASA's Office of Space Science through the Solar Physics Supporting Research and Technology Program and the Sun-Earth Connection Guest Investigator Program.

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