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Widespread nanoflare variability detected with hinode/xrt in a solar active region
| Content Provider | NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
|---|---|
| Author | Kano, Ryouhei Reale, Fabio Tsuneta, Saku Miceli, Marco Terzo, Sergio Klimchuk, James A. |
| Copyright Year | 2011 |
| Description | It is generally agreed that small impulsive energy bursts called nanoflares are responsible for at least some of the Sun s hot corona, but whether they are the explanation for most of the multi-million degree plasma has been a matter of ongoing debate. We here present evidence that nanoflares are widespread in an active region observed by the X-Ray Telescope on-board the Hinode mission. The distributions of intensity fluctuations have small but important asymmetries, whether taken from individual pixels, multi-pixel subregions, or the entire active region. Negative fluctuations (corresponding to reduced intensity) are greater in number but weaker in amplitude, so that the median fluctuation is negative compared to a mean of zero. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we show that only part of this asymmetry can be explained by Poisson photon statistics. The remainder is explainable with a tendency for exponentially decreasing intensity, such as would be expected from a cooling plasma produced, e.g., from a nanoflare. We suggest that nanoflares are a universal heating process within active regions. |
| File Size | 693107 |
| Page Count | 13 |
| File Format | |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://archive.org/details/NASA_NTRS_Archive_20110008000 |
| Archival Resource Key | ark:/13960/t7xm39c60 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher Date | 2011-01-01 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Solar Physics Solar Corona Solar Flares Asymmetry Simulation Plasmas Physics Grazing Incidence Telescopes Solar Wind Monte Carlo Method Sun X Ray Telescopes Ntrs Nasa Technical Reports Server (ntrs) Nasa Technical Reports Server Aerodynamics Aircraft Aerospace Engineering Aerospace Aeronautic Space Science |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
