Are coronal loops self­organized critical systems?

LÓPEZ FUENTES, M.C.; KLIMCHUK, J.A.; MANDRINI, C.H.

New Orleans

Congreso; 2005 American Geophysical Union/ Solar Physics Division/ American Astronomical Society, Joint Assembly; 2005

AAS-Solar Physics Division

In Lopez-Fuentes et al. 2004 we studied a set of loops observedby GOES/SXI and found that loop evolution can be separated in three phases (rise, main and decay).  We found that the time scales of all three phases are long compared to a cooling time.  In this work we explore whether this evolution is consistent with the development of a self-organized critical (SOC) system.  We compare the observed soft X-ray light curves with light curves predicted by a simple SOC model, and we examine how the rise and decay times are related to the properties of the system driver.  The physical picture we have in mind is the shuffling of elemental flux tubes by photospheric motions, as first advocated by Parker.