IAFE   05512
INSTITUTO DE ASTRONOMIA Y FISICA DEL ESPACIO
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
A cellular automaton model for coronal heating
Autor/es:
M. LÓPEZ FUENTES; J. A. KLIMCHUK
Lugar:
Mendoza
Reunión:
Simposio; IAU Symposium 286: Comparative Magnetic Minima; 2011
Institución organizadora:
International Astronomical Union
Resumen:
 We present a simple coronal heating model based on a cellular automaton approach. Following Parker’s suggestion (1988), we consider the corona to be made up of elemental magnetic strands that accumulate magnetic stress due to the photospheric displacements of their footpoints. Magnetic energy is eventually released in small scale reconnection events. The model consists of a 2D grid in which strand footpoints travel with random displacements simulating convective motions. Each time two strands interact, a critical condition is tested (as in self-organized critical models), and if the condition is fulfilled, the strands reconnect and energy is released. We model the plasma response to the heating events and obtain synthetic observations. We compare the output of the model with real observations from Hinode/XRT and discuss the implications of our results for coronal heating.