SMuK 2023 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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SYMD: Symposium SMuK Dissertation Prize 2023

SYMD 1: SMuK Dissertation Prize 2023

SYMD 1.1: Hauptvortrag

Montag, 20. März 2023, 14:00–14:30, HSZ/AUDI

A coronal loop in a box: From energy generation to coronal emission — •Cosima Breu — University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, UK

The outer atmosphere - the corona - of the Sun is several hundred times hotter than the surface. How this is possible is one of the unsolved questions in astrophysics. Coronal loops, arcs of radiating plasma confined by the magnetic field, form the building blocks of the corona. These coronal loops are rooted in concentrations of strong magnetic fields at the solar surface. We model a coronal loop with the help of numerical simulations that span from below the solar surface to thousands of kilometers into the atmosphere, allowing us to follow the transport of energy through the atmosphere. Hot plasma bubbling up at the surface moves around the magnetic patches, stretching and shaking the magnetic field. In addition, swirling plasma inside magnetic concentrations drags the magnetic field with it. The rotating magnetic field stirs the plasma higher up in the atmosphere, contributing an upwards flow of energy that makes up a significant part of the energy budget. Our loop model reproduces the appearance of a coronal loop and observed properties of coronal spectral lines. This study highlights the need for high resolution observations and simulations to properly take into account the processes on a large range of scales that contribute to energizing the corona.