Identification of coronal heating events in 3D simulations

The solar coronal heating problem is an open question since 1939. One proposed model for the transport and release of mechanical energy generated in the sub-phorospheric layers and photosphere is the nanoflare model that incorporates Ohmic heating which releases a part of the energy stored in the magnetic field via magnetic reconnection. The problem with the verification of this model is that we cannot resolve observationally small scale events. Histograms of observable characteristics of flares, show powerlaw behavior, for both energy release rate, size and total energy. Depending on the powerlaw index of the energy release, nanoflares might be an important candidate for coronal heating; we seek to find that index. In this paper, we employ a numerical 3D-MHD simulation produced by the numerical code Bifrost, and a new technique to identify the 3D heating events at a specific instant. The quantity we explore is the Joule heating, which is explicitly correlated with the magnetic reconnection because depends on the curl of the magnetic field. We are able to identify 4136 events in a volume $24 \times 24 \times 9.5 \ \textrm{Mm}^3$(i.e.$768 \times 786 \times 331$ grid cells) of a specific snapshot. We find a powerlaw slope of the released energy per second, and two powerlaw slopes of the identified volume. The identified energy events do not represent all the released energy, but of the identified events, the total energy of the largest events dominate the energy release. Most of the energy release happens in the lower corona, while heating drops with height. We find that with a specific identification method that large events can be resolved into smaller ones, but at the expense of the total identified energy releases. The energy release which cannot be identified as an event favours a low energy release mechanism.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

Accelerated particle beams in a 3D simulation of the quiet Sun

Observational and theoretical evidence suggest that beams of accelerated particles are produced in flaring events of all sizes in the solar atmosphere, from X-class flares to nanoflares. Current models of these types of particles in flaring loops assume an isolated 1D atmosphere. A more realistic environment for modelling accelerated particles can be provided by 3D radiative magnetohydrodynamics codes. Here, we present a simple model for particle acceleration and propagation in the context of a 3D simulation of the quiet solar atmosphere, spanning from the convection zone to the corona. We then examine the additional transport of energy introduced by the particle beams. The locations of particle acceleration associated with magnetic reconnection were identified by detecting changes in magnetic topology. At each location, the parameters of the accelerated particle distribution were estimated from local conditions. The particle distributions were then propagated along the magnetic field, and the energy deposition due to Coulomb collisions with the ambient plasma was computed. We find that particle beams originate in extended acceleration regions that are distributed across the corona. Upon reaching the transition region, they converge and produce strands of intense heating that penetrate the chromosphere. Within these strands, beam heating consistently dominates conductive heating below the bottom of the transition region. This indicates that particle beams qualitatively alter the energy transport even outside of active regions.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

Spectral analysis of 3D MHD models of coronal structures

We study extreme-ultraviolet emission line spectra derived from three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic models of structures in the corona. In order to investigate the effects of increased magnetic activity at photospheric levels in a numerical experiment, a much higher magnetic flux density is applied at photospheric levels as compared to the Sun. Thus, we can expect our results to highlight the differences between the Sun and more active, but still solar-like stars. We discuss signatures seen in extreme-ultraviolet emission lines synthesized from these models and compare them to signatures found in the spatial distribution and temporal evolution of Doppler shifts in lines formed in the transition region and corona. This is of major interest to test the quality of the underlying magnetohydrodynamic model to heat the corona, i.e. currents in the corona driven by photospheric motions (flux braiding).Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

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Photospheric Motions and Their Effects on the Corona: a Numerical Approach

We perform a number of numerical simulations of the solar corona with the aim to understand how it responds to different conditions in the photosphere. By changing parameters which govern the motion of the plasma at the photosphere we study the behavior of the corona, in particular, the effects on the current density generated. An MHD code is used to run simulations, using a 20x20x20 Mm^3 box with time spans ranging from one hundred to several hundreds of minutes. All the experiments show a fast initial increase of the current density, followed by a stabilization around an asymptotic value which depends on the photospheric conditions. These asymptotic average current densities as well as the turn-over points are discussed.Comment: 11 pages with 13 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Electron Transport in Magnetic-Field-Induced Quasi-One-Dimensional Electron Systems in Semiconductor Nanowhiskers

Many-body effects on tunneling of electrons in semiconductor nanowhiskers are investigated in a magnetic quantum limit. We consider the system with which bulk and edge states coexist. We show that interaction parameters of edge states are much smaller than those of bulk states and the tunneling conductance of edge states hardly depends on temperature and the singular behavior of tunneling conductance of bulk states can be observed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Ejection of cool plasma into the hot corona

We investigate the processes that lead to the formation, ejection and fall of a confined plasma ejection that was observed in a numerical experiment of the solar corona. By quantifying physical parameters such as mass, velocity, and orientation of the plasma ejection relative to the magnetic field, we provide a description of the nature of this particular phenomenon. The time-dependent three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (3D MHD) equations are solved in a box extending from the chromosphere to the lower corona. The plasma is heated by currents that are induced through field line braiding as a consequence of photospheric motions. Spectra of optically thin emission lines in the extreme ultraviolet range are synthesized, and magnetic field lines are traced over time. Following strong heating just above the chromosphere, the pressure rapidly increases, leading to a hydrodynamic explosion above the upper chromosphere in the low transition region. The explosion drives the plasma, which needs to follow the magnetic field lines. The ejection is then moving more or less ballistically along the loop-like field lines and eventually drops down onto the surface of the Sun. The speed of the ejection is in the range of the sound speed, well below the Alfven velocity. The plasma ejection is basically a hydrodynamic phenomenon, whereas the rise of the heating rate is of magnetic nature. The granular motions in the photosphere lead (by chance) to a strong braiding of the magnetic field lines at the location of the explosion that in turn is causing strong currents which are dissipated. Future studies need to determine if this process is a ubiquitous phenomenon on the Sun on small scales. Data from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (AIA/SDO) might provide the relevant information.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure