Abstract
For many years it has been debated whether the quiet solar corona is heated by nanoflares and microflares or by magnetic waves. In this paper TRACE data of events with energies in the range 1023-1026 ergs are investigated. A new stable and objective statistical technique is proposed to determine the index, -γ, of a power-law relation between the frequency of the events and their energy. We find that γ is highly dependent on the form of the line-of-sight depth assumed to determine the event energies. If a constant line-of-sight depth is assumed, then γ lies between 2.4 and 2.6; however, if a line-of-sight depth of the form (Ae/k2)1/2 is assumed, where Ae is event area and k is a constant, then γ lies between 2.0 and 2.1. In all cases the value of γ is greater than 2 and therefore implies that the events with the lowest energies dominate the heating of the quiet solar corona. Moreover, there are strong indications that there is insufficient energy from events with nanoflare energies (i.e., energies in the range 1024-1027 ergs) to explain the total energy losses in the quiet corona. However, our results do not rule out the possibility that events with picoflare energies (i.e., energies in the range 1021-1024 ergs) heat the quiet corona. From analysis of the spatial distribution of the events, we find that events are mainly confined to regions with the brightest EUV emission, which are presumably the regions connected to the strongest magnetic fields. Indeed, just 16% of the quiet corona possesses such events.
Export citation and abstract BibTeX RIS
References
- DeForest, C. E., & Gurman, J. B. 1998, ApJ, 501, L217
- Falconer, D. A., Moore, R. L., Porter, J. G., & Hathaway, D. H. 1998, ApJ, 501, 386
- Hinkley, D. V., & Revankar, N. S. 1977, J. Econometrics, 5, 1
- Krucker, S., & Benz, A. O. 1998, ApJ, 501, L213 (KB)
- Ofman, L., Klimchuk, J. A., & Davila, J. M. 1998, ApJ, 493, 474
- Shimizu, T. 1995, PASJ, 47, 251
- Thompson, B. J., et al. 1999, ApJ, 517, L151
Citations
-
NuSTAR Detection of X-Ray Heating Events in the Quiet Sun
Matej Kuhar et al. 2018 The Astrophysical Journal Letters 856 L32 -
First NuSTAR Limits on Quiet Sun Hard X-Ray Transient Events
Andrew J. Marsh et al. 2017 The Astrophysical Journal 849 131 -
NuSTAR Hard X-Ray Observation of a Sub-A Class Solar Flare
Lindsay Glesener et al. 2017 The Astrophysical Journal 845 122 -
Microflare Heating of a Solar Active Region Observed with NuSTAR, Hinode/XRT, and SDO/AIA
Paul J. Wright et al. 2017 The Astrophysical Journal 844 132 -
On the power-law distributions of X-ray fluxes from solar flares observed with GOES
You-Ping Li et al 2016 Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics 16 161 -
Low-Frequency Radio Observations of the Solar Corona with Arcminute Angular Resolution: Implications for Coronal Turbulence and Weak Energy Releases
V. Mugundhan et al. 2016 The Astrophysical Journal 831 154 -
The First Focused Hard X-ray Images of the Sun with NuSTAR
Brian W. Grefenstette et al. 2016 The Astrophysical Journal 826 20 -
Small-scale Heating Events in the Solar Atmosphere. I. Identification, Selection, and Implications for Coronal Heating
N. Guerreiro et al. 2015 The Astrophysical Journal 813 61 -
Time-dependent Turbulent Heating of Open Flux Tubes in the Chromosphere, Corona, and Solar Wind
L. N. Woolsey and S. R. Cranmer 2015 The Astrophysical Journal 811 136 -
Numerical Simulations of Coronal Heating through Footpoint Braiding
V. Hansteen et al. 2015 The Astrophysical Journal 811 106 -
Temporal Analysis of Dissipative Structures in Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence
Vladimir Zhdankin et al. 2015 The Astrophysical Journal 811 6 -
Global Energetics of Solar Flares: II. Thermal Energies
Markus J. Aschwanden et al. 2015 The Astrophysical Journal 802 53 -
Two-dimensional Cellular Automaton Model for the Evolution of Active Region Coronal Plasmas
Marcelo López Fuentes and James A. Klimchuk 2015 The Astrophysical Journal 799 128 -
Energy Dissipation in Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence: Coherent Structures or "Nanoflares"?
Vladimir Zhdankin et al. 2014 The Astrophysical Journal 795 127 -
Determining Heating Timescales in Solar Active Region Cores from AIA/SDO Fe XVIII Images
Ignacio Ugarte-Urra and Harry P. Warren 2014 The Astrophysical Journal 783 12 -
A Macroscopic Description of a Generalized Self-organized Criticality System: Astrophysical Applications
Markus J. Aschwanden 2014 The Astrophysical Journal 782 54 -
The breakdown of the power-law frequency distributions for the hard X-ray peak count rates of solar flares
You-Ping Li et al 2013 Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics 13 1482 -
Multi-wavelength Observations of the Spatio-temporal Evolution of Solar Flares with AIA/SDO. II. Hydrodynamic Scaling Laws and Thermal Energies
Markus J. Aschwanden and Toshifumi Shimizu 2013 The Astrophysical Journal 776 132 -
Stochastic Coupling of Solar Photosphere and Corona
Vadim M. Uritsky et al. 2013 The Astrophysical Journal 769 62 -
Low-frequency Radio Observations of Picoflare Category Energy Releases in the Solar Atmosphere
R. Ramesh et al. 2013 The Astrophysical Journal 762 89 -
A Decade of Solar Type III Radio Bursts Observed by the Nançay Radioheliograph 1998-2008
P. Saint-Hilaire et al. 2013 The Astrophysical Journal 762 60 -
Frequency Dependence of the Power-law Index of Solar Radio Bursts
Qiwu Song et al. 2012 The Astrophysical Journal 750 160 -
Statistical Analyses on Thermal Aspects of Solar Flares
Y. P. Li et al. 2012 The Astrophysical Journal 747 133 -
Can a Nanoflare Model of Extreme-ultraviolet Irradiances Describe the Heating of the Solar Corona?
E. Tajfirouze and H. Safari 2012 The Astrophysical Journal 744 113 -
Hinode Observation of Photospheric Magnetic Activities Triggering X-ray Microflares Around a Well-developed Sunspot
R. Kano et al. 2010 The Astrophysical Journal 720 1136 -
Fluctuating Energy Storage and Nonlinear Cascade in an Inhomogeneous Coronal Loop
F. Malara et al. 2010 The Astrophysical Journal 720 306 -
Exploring Transitions of Space Plasmas Out of Equilibrium
G. Livadiotis and D. J. McComas 2010 The Astrophysical Journal 714 971 -
A Power-Law Distribution of Solar Magnetic Fields Over More Than Five Decades in Flux
C. E. Parnell et al. 2009 The Astrophysical Journal 698 75 -
Observational Appearance of Nanoflares with SXT and TRACE
Yasushi Sakamoto et al. 2008 The Astrophysical Journal 689 1421 -
Predicting Observational Signatures of Coronal Heating by Alfvén Waves and Nanoflares
P. Antolin et al. 2008 The Astrophysical Journal 688 669 -
RHESSI Microflares with Quiet Microwave Emission
Zongjun Ning 2008 The Astrophysical Journal 686 674 -
Hydrodynamic Simulation of a Nanoflare-heated Multistrand Solar Atmospheric Loop
Aveek Sarkar and Robert W Walsh 2008 The Astrophysical Journal 683 516 -
RHESSI Microflare Statistics. I. Flare-Finding and Frequency Distributions
S. Christe et al. 2008 The Astrophysical Journal 677 1385 -
RHESSI Microflare Statistics. II. X-Ray Imaging, Spectroscopy, and Energy Distributions
I. G. Hannah et al. 2008 The Astrophysical Journal 677 704 -
Solar Flare Geometries. II. The Volume Fractal Dimension
Markus J. Aschwanden and Pascal D. Aschwanden 2008 The Astrophysical Journal 674 544 -
Solar Magnetic Tracking. I. Software Comparison and Recommended Practices
C. E. DeForest et al. 2007 The Astrophysical Journal 666 576 -
Shell Models of RMHD Turbulence and the Heating of Solar Coronal Loops
E. Buchlin and M. Velli 2007 The Astrophysical Journal 662 701 -
A Statistical Model of the Inhomogeneous Corona Constrained by Triple-Filter Measurements of Elementary Loop Strands with TRACE
Markus J. Aschwanden et al. 2007 The Astrophysical Journal 656 577 -
Statistical Properties of Synthetic Nanoflares
B. Viticchié et al. 2006 The Astrophysical Journal 652 1734 -
Modeling the Radiative Signatures of Turbulent Heating in Coronal Loops
S. Parenti et al. 2006 The Astrophysical Journal 651 1219 -
Stellar Activity on the Young Suns of Orion: COUP Observations of K5-7 Pre-Main-Sequence Stars
S. J. Wolk et al. 2005 The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 160 423 -
Modeling a Coronal Loop Heated by Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence Nanoflares
F. Reale et al. 2005 The Astrophysical Journal 633 489 -
An Ab Initio Approach to the Solar Coronal Heating Problem
Boris Vilhelm Gudiksen and Åke Nordlund 2005 The Astrophysical Journal 618 1020 -
The Nonlinear Alfvén Wave Model for Solar Coronal Heating and Nanoflares
Satoshi Moriyasu et al. 2004 The Astrophysical Journal Letters 601 L107 -
Some Like It Hot: The X-Ray Emission of the Giant Star YY Mensae
Marc Audard et al. 2004 The Astrophysical Journal 617 531 -
A Bayesian Approach to Solar Flare Prediction
M. S. Wheatland 2004 The Astrophysical Journal 609 1134 -
Signatures of a nanoflare heated solar corona
G E Vekstein and R Jain 2003 Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 45 535 -
Separating the X-Ray Emissions of UV Ceti A and B with Chandra
Marc Audard et al. 2003 The Astrophysical Journal 589 983 -
Are Coronae of Magnetically Active Stars Heated by Flares? II. Extreme Ultraviolet and X-Ray Flare Statistics and the Differential Emission Measure Distribution
Manuel Güdel et al. 2003 The Astrophysical Journal 582 423 -
X-Ray Evidence for Flare Density Variations and Continual Chromospheric Evaporation in Proxima Centauri
Manuel Güdel et al. 2002 The Astrophysical Journal Letters 580 L73 -
Statistical Properties of the Energy Release in Emerging and Evolving Active Regions
Loukas Vlahos et al. 2002 The Astrophysical Journal Letters 575 L87 -
Bulk Heating and Slender Magnetic Loops in the Solar Corona
Boris Vilhelm Gudiksen and Åke Nordlund 2002 The Astrophysical Journal Letters 572 L113 -
Correlating Transition Region Explosive Events with Extreme-Ultraviolet Brightenings
Amy R. Winebarger et al. 2002 The Astrophysical Journal Letters 570 L105 -
Effects of Temperature Bias on Nanoflare Statistics
Markus J. Aschwanden and Paul Charbonneau 2002 The Astrophysical Journal Letters 566 L59 -
In search of minimal random braid configurations
P D Bangert et al 2002 Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General 35 43 -
Flare Heating in Stellar Coronae
Vinay L. Kashyap et al. 2002 The Astrophysical Journal 580 1118 -
On the Heating of the Solar Corona and the Acceleration of the Low-Speed Solar Wind by Acoustic Waves Generated in the Corona
Takeru Ken Suzuki 2002 The Astrophysical Journal 578 598 -
A Flux-Tube Tectonics Model for Solar Coronal Heating Driven by the Magnetic Carpet
Eric R. Priest et al. 2002 The Astrophysical Journal 576 533 -
Statistics, Morphology, and Energetics of Ellerman Bombs
Manolis K. Georgoulis et al. 2002 The Astrophysical Journal 575 506 -
Nanoflare Statistics from First Principles: Fractal Geometry and Temperature Synthesis
Markus J. Aschwanden and Clare E. Parnell 2002 The Astrophysical Journal 572 1048 -
The Peak Flux Distribution of Solar Radio Bursts
Gelu M. Nita et al. 2002 The Astrophysical Journal 570 423 -
Energy Distribution of Microevents in the Quiet Solar Corona
Arnold O. Benz and Säm Krucker 2002 The Astrophysical Journal 568 413 -
Energetics of Explosive Events Observed with SUMER
Amy R. Winebarger et al. 2002 The Astrophysical Journal 565 1298 -
Geometric Effects in Avalanche Models of Solar Flares: Implications for Coronal Heating
S. W. McIntosh and P. Charbonneau 2001 The Astrophysical Journal Letters 563 L165 -
Solar Hard X-Ray Bursts and Electron Acceleration Down to 8 keV
R. P. Lin et al. 2001 The Astrophysical Journal Letters 557 L125 -
Astrophysics in 2000
Virginia Trimble and Markus J. Aschwanden 2001 Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 113 1025 -
A new view of the Sun: highlights and insights from the SOHO Mission
Robert W Walsh 2001 Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 43 A375 -
An Evaluation of Coronal Heating Models for Active Regions Based on Yohkoh, SOHO, and TRACE Observations
Markus J. Aschwanden 2001 The Astrophysical Journal 560 1035 -
Small Fluctuation of Coronal X-Ray Intensity and a Signature of Nanoflares
Yukio Katsukawa and Saku Tsuneta 2001 The Astrophysical Journal 557 343 -
Current understanding of the heating of the solar corona
C Jordan 2000 Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 42 415 -
Self-organized Criticality from Separator Reconnection in Solar Flares
D. W. Longcope and E. J. Noonan 2000 The Astrophysical Journal 542 1088 -
Scaling Laws for a Nanoflare-Heated Solar Corona
G. Vekstein and Y. Katsukawa 2000 The Astrophysical Journal 541 1096 -
Extreme-Ultraviolet Flare Activity in Late-Type Stars
Marc Audard et al. 2000 The Astrophysical Journal 541 396 -
A Method to Determine the Heating Mechanisms of the Solar Corona
E. R. Priest et al. 2000 The Astrophysical Journal 539 1002 -
Time Variability of the "Quiet" Sun Observed with TRACE. II. Physical Parameters, Temperature Evolution, and Energetics of Extreme-Ultraviolet Nanoflares
Markus J. Aschwanden et al. 2000 The Astrophysical Journal 535 1047