Self-Regulation of Solar Coronal Heating Process via the Collisionless Reconnection Condition
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University and Center for Magnetic Self-Organization (CMSO), Princeton, New Jersey 08544 (United States)
I propose a new paradigm for solar coronal heating viewed as a self-regulating process keeping the plasma marginally collisionless. The mechanism is based on the coupling between two effects. First, coronal density controls the plasma collisionality and hence the transition between the slow collisional Sweet-Parker and the fast collisionless reconnection regimes. In turn, coronal energy release leads to chromospheric evaporation, increasing the density and thus inhibiting subsequent reconnection of the newly reconnected loops. As a result, statistically, the density fluctuates around some critical level, comparable to that observed in the corona. In the long run, coronal heating can be represented by repeating cycles of fast reconnection events (nanoflares), evaporation episodes, and long periods of slow magnetic stress buildup and radiative cooling of the coronal plasma.
- OSTI ID:
- 21028224
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 99, Issue 26; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.261101; (c) 2007 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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