Related papers: Coronal heating in multiple magnetic threads
For the first time, we demonstrate how an MHD avalanche might occur in a multi-threaded coronal loop. Considering 23 non-potential magnetic threads within a loop, we use 3D MHD simulations to show that only one thread needs to be unstable…
A possible key element for large-scale energy release in the solar corona is an MHD kink instability in a single twisted magnetic flux tube. An initial helical current sheet fragments in a turbulent way into smaller-scale sheets, similarly…
Context: Relaxation theory offers a straightforward method for estimating the energy that is released when a magnetic field becomes unstable, as a result of continual convective driving. Aims: We present new results obtained from nonlinear…
Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities allow energy to be released from stressed magnetic fields, commonly modelled in cylindrical flux tubes linking parallel planes, but, more recently, also in curved arcades containing flux tubes with…
We present the first results of three-dimensional (3D) numerical magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the onset of magnetic reconnection via the tearing instability in dynamically thinning current sheets in the solar corona. In all our…
Magnetic reconnection, a fundamentally important process in many aspects of astrophysics, is believed to be initiated by the tearing instability of an electric current sheet, a region where magnetic field abruptly changes direction and…
It has been proposed that the million degree temperature of the corona is due to the combined effect of barely-detectable energy releases, so called nanoflares, that occur throughout the solar atmosphere. Alas, the nanoflare density and…
We present simulations modeling closed regions of the solar corona threaded by a strong magnetic field where localized photospheric vortical motions twist the coronal field lines. The linear and nonlinear dynamics are investigated in the…
Coronal heating through the explosive release of magnetic energy remains an open problem in solar physics. Recent hydrodynamical models attempt an investigation by placing swarms of 'nanoflares' at random sites and times in modeled…
One candidate-model for heating the solar corona is magnetic reconnection that embodies Ohmic dissipation of current sheets. When numerous small-scaled magnetic reconnection occur, then it is possible to heat the corona. Due to the…
Context. Photospheric motions shuffle the footpoints of the strong axial magnetic field that threads coronal loops giving rise to turbulent nonlinear dynamics characterized by the continuous formation and dissipation of field-aligned…
Magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the emergence of twisted magnetic flux tubes from the solar interior into the corona are discussed to illustrate how twisted and sheared coronal magnetic structures (with free magnetic energy),…
MHD kink instability can trigger the fragmentation of a twisted magnetic flux tube into small-scale current sheets that dissipate as aperiodic impulsive heating events. This instability propagates as an avalanche to nearby flux tubes and…
The nature and detailed properties of the heating of the million-degree solar corona are important issues that are still largely unresolved. Nanoflare heating might be dominant in active regions and quiet Sun, although direct signatures of…
The aim of this work is to investigate and characterise non-thermal particle behaviour in a three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) model of unstable multi-threaded flaring coronal loops. We have used a numerical scheme which…
Context: It is thought likely that vast numbers of nanoflares are responsible for the corona having a temperature of millions of degrees. Current observational technologies lack the resolving power to confirm the nanoflare hypothesis. An…
Twisted magnetic fields should be ubiquitous in flare-producing active regions where the magnetic fields are strongly non-potential. It has been shown that reconnection in helical magnetic coronal loops results in plasma heating and…
Forced magnetic reconnection, a reconnection event triggered by external perturbation, should be ubiquitous in the solar corona. Energy released during such cases can be much greater than that which was introduced by the perturbation. It is…
The Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, is maintained at mega-Kelvin temperatures and fills the heliosphere with a supersonic outflowing wind. The dissipation of magnetic waves and direct electric currents are likely to be the most…
Solar eruptions are explosive disruption of coronal magnetic fields, and often launch coronal mass ejections into the interplanetary space. Intriguingly, many solar eruptions fail to escape from the Sun, and the prevailing theory for such…