Heating the solar corona by magnetic reconnection

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Abstract

Here I review briefly the theory of magnetohydrodynamic reconnection and ask what observational evidence is there that it is heating the corona. In particular, the new directions in which three-dimensional theory for reconnection is heading are outlined. Part of the coronal heating problem has been solved with the identification of reconnection driven by converging flux motions as the key for x-ray bright points. Furthermore, it has been shown that the large-scale diffuse corona is heated rather uniformly, so that turbulent reconnection by braiding or ion-cyclotron waves driven by network micro-flares are prime candidates. Finally, reconnection is the natural explanation for a wide variety of phenomena discovered by SOHO including explosive events, blinkers, the magnetic carpet and even possibly tornadoes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)77-100
Number of pages24
JournalAstrophysics and Space Science
Volume264
Issue number1/4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1998

Keywords

  • PHOTOSPHERIC NETWORK
  • EXPLOSIVE EVENTS
  • BRIGHT POINTS
  • FLUX MODEL
  • WIND
  • FIELDS
  • JETS
  • CANCELLATION
  • TOPOLOGY
  • REGION

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