A nanoflare based cellular automaton model and the observed properties of the coronal plasma

We use the cellular automaton model described in López Fuentes & Klimchuk (2015, ApJ, 799, 128) to study the evolution of coronal loop plasmas. The model, based on the idea of a critical misalignment angle in tangled magnetic fields, produces nanoflares of varying frequency with respect to the p...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Lopez Fuentes, Marcelo Claudio, Klimchuk, James
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:Argentina
Institución:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/18120
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/18120
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Sun: activity
Sun: corona
Sun: magnetic fields
Sun: X-rays
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.3
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
Descripción
Sumario:We use the cellular automaton model described in López Fuentes & Klimchuk (2015, ApJ, 799, 128) to study the evolution of coronal loop plasmas. The model, based on the idea of a critical misalignment angle in tangled magnetic fields, produces nanoflares of varying frequency with respect to the plasma cooling time. We compare the results of the model with active region (AR) observations obtained with the Hinode/XRT and SDO/AIA instruments. The comparison is based on the statistical properties of synthetic and observed loop lightcurves. Our results show that the model reproduces the main observational characteristics of the evolution of the plasma in AR coronal loops. The typical intensity<br />fluctuations have an amplitude of 10 to 15% both for the model and the observations. The sign of the skewness of the intensity distributions indicates the presence of cooling plasma in the loops. We also study the emission measure (EM) distribution predicted by the model and obtain slopes in log(EM) versus log(T) between 2.7 and 4.3, in agreement with published observational values.