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EP: Fachverband Extraterrestrische Physik
EP 9: Sonne und Heliosphäre II
EP 9.1: Talk
Friday, March 1, 2013, 09:30–09:45, HS 9
Can magnetic reconnection in the quiet Sun heat the chromospheric and coronal plasma? — •Thomas Wiegelmann1, Sami Solanki1, Juan Borrero2, Hardi Peter1, and and the Sunrise Team1 — 1MPI fuer Sonnensystemforschung — 2Kiepenheuer-Institut fuer Sonnenphysik
We extrapolate a 22-minute long time series of photospheric magnetic field measurements from the balloon-borne Sunrise/IMaX instrument into the upper solar atmosphere. Using the extrapolated 3D magnetic-field lines as tracer, we investigate the temporal evolution of the magnetic connectivity in the quiet Sun's atmosphere. The majority of magnetic loops are asymmetric in the sense that the photospheric field strength at the loop footpoints is very different. We find that the magnetic connectivity of the loops changes rapidly with a typical connection recycling time of about 3 minutes in the upper solar atmosphere and 12 minutes in the photosphere. This is considerably shorter than previously found. Nonetheless, our estimate of the energy released by the associated magnetic-reconnection processes is not likely to be the sole source for heating the chromosphere and corona in the quiet Sun.