Power-law Statistics of Driven Reconnection in the Magnetically Closed Corona

Numerous observations have revealed that power-law distributions are ubiquitous in energetic solar processes. Hard X-rays, soft X-rays, extreme ultraviolet radiation, and radio waves all display power-law frequency distributions. Since magnetic reconnection is the driving mechanism for many energeti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2018-01, Vol.853 (1), p.82
Main Authors: Knizhnik, K. J., Uritsky, V. M., Klimchuk, J. A., DeVore, C. R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astrophysics
Braiding
Computer simulation
Corona
Extreme ultraviolet radiation
Fluxes
Hard X-rays
Magnetic reconnection
Mathematical models
Numerical simulations
Photosphere
Power law
Radio waves
Soft x rays
Solar corona
Solar phenomena
Sun: corona
Sun: general
Sun: magnetic fields
Temperature changes
Ultraviolet radiation
X-rays
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Summary:Numerous observations have revealed that power-law distributions are ubiquitous in energetic solar processes. Hard X-rays, soft X-rays, extreme ultraviolet radiation, and radio waves all display power-law frequency distributions. Since magnetic reconnection is the driving mechanism for many energetic solar phenomena, it is likely that reconnection events themselves display such power-law distributions. In this work, we perform numerical simulations of the solar corona driven by simple convective motions at the photospheric level. Using temperature changes, current distributions, and Poynting fluxes as proxies for heating, we demonstrate that energetic events occurring in our simulation display power-law frequency distributions, with slopes in good agreement with observations. We suggest that the braiding-associated reconnection in the corona can be understood in terms of a self-organized criticality model driven by convective rotational motions similar to those observed at the photosphere.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.3847/1538-4357/aaa0d9