Heating of the Solar Corona: Review

Erdélyi, R. (2005) Heating of the Solar Corona: Review. In: British-Romanian-Hungarian N+N+N Workshop for Young Researchers On Plasma- and Astrophysics: from laboratory to outer space Edited by I. Ballai, E. Forgács-Dajka, A. Marcu and K. Petrovay. Publications of the Astronomy Department of the Eötvös University (15). ELTE Sokszorosítóüzeme, Budapest, pp. 7-19.

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Abstract

The heating of solar and stellar chromospheres and coronae are one of the key fundamental and yet unresolved questions of modern space and plasma physics. In spite of the multi-fold efforts spanning over half a century including the many superb technological advances and theoretical developments (both analytical and computational) the unveiling of the subtles of coronal heating still remained an exciting job for the 21st century! In the present paper I review the various popular heating mechanisms put forward in the existing extensive literature. The heating processes are, somewhat arbitrarily, classified as hydrodynamic (HD), magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) or kinetic based on the model medium. These mechanisms are further divided based on the time scales of the ultimate dissipation involved (i.e. AC and DC heating, turbulent heating). In particular, attention is paid to discuss shock dissipation, Landau damping, mode coupling, resonant absorption, phase mixing, and, reconnection. Finally, I briefly review the various observational consequences of the many proposed heating mechanisms and confront them with high-resolution ground-based and satellite data currently available.

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