Impulsive coronal heating during the interaction of surface magnetic fields in the lower solar atmosphere

L. P. Chitta, H. Peter, E. R. Priest, S. K. Solanki

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Coronal plasma in the cores of solar active regions is impulsively heated to more than 5 MK. The nature and location of the magnetic energy source responsible for such impulsive heating is poorly understood. Using observations of seven active regions from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, we found that a majority of coronal loops hosting hot plasma have at least one footpoint rooted in regions of interacting mixed magnetic polarity at the solar surface. In cases when co-temporal observations from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph space mission are available, we found spectroscopic evidence for magnetic reconnection at the base of the hot coronal loops. Our analysis suggests that interactions of magnetic patches of opposite polarity at the solar surface and the associated energy release during reconnection are key to impulsive coronal heating.
Original languageEnglish
Article numberA130
Number of pages29
JournalAstronomy & Astrophysics
Volume644
Early online date14 Dec 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2020

Keywords

  • Magnetic reconnection
  • Sun: chromosphere
  • Sun: corona
  • Sun: magnetic fields
  • Sun: transition region
  • Sun: flares

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