Physics
Scientific paper
Feb 1980
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1980phcl.rept.....l&link_type=abstract
Unknown
Physics
Magnetic Field Configurations, Magnetohydrodynamic Flow, Plasma Heating, Solar Corona, Solar Wind, Coulomb Collisions, Magnetic Flux, Plasma Density, Plasma Interactions, Pressure, Thermal Energy
Scientific paper
In the lower corona, where plasma is constrained to flow in the direction of the local magnetic field, a loop field geometry connecting regions of opposite polarity will force plasma originating at the two foot points of the arch-like flux tube to interact. If the tube has a cross section that increases with distance from a foot point, the plasma evaporating at the foot point can be accelerated along the field in the same fashion as the solar wind is accelerated along open diverging flux tubes. If this acceleration occurs symmetrically with respect to the apex of the loop, Coulomb collisions between the ions of the resulting two streams from the opposite foot point convert this direct energy to thermal energy. Since the flux tube converges at both ends and the Coulomb collisions cause pitch angle scattering as well as thermalization, the heated plasma accumulates. The loop is destroyed when the pressure of the trapped plasma becomes greater than the confining pressure. The feasibility of this model of coronal loops is assessed using an example observed with the X-ray telescope on Skylab.
Broussard Robert M.
Luhmann Janet G.
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