26th Australian Institute of Physics Congress and the Australian and New Zealand Conference on Optics and Photonics

Magnetic field line braiding as a contributor to heating the magnetically-closed corona

Not scheduled

20m

Belinda Hutchinson Building (The University of Sydney )

Contributed Oral AIP | Solar Terrestrial and Space Physics (STSP)

Description

One of the leading mechanisms for explaining the high temperature of the Sun’s corona is based on Parker’s conjecture that a sufficiently complex field will develop near-singular current sheets, leading to the onset of rapid magnetic reconnection and energy conversion. This topological dissipation mechanism remains a matter of debate, and is a key ingredient in the nanoflare model for coronal heating. I will present new results relating to our understanding of this heating mechanism. Understanding the plasma’s radiative response to heating events is important in part because the solar spectral irradiance is a major energy input to the terrestrial upper atmosphere.