Parker’s nanoflare model is one possible mechanism for heating the solar corona. The suggestion is that coronal loops may be heated through the release of magnetic energy in multiple, small-scale events.
Our work aims to show that the continuous driving of the coronal magnetic field, by identified photospheric velocities, can result in a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) ‘avalanche’, a succession of multiple, reconnection-triggered heating events.
Using three-dimensional MHD simulations, we simulate the formation, twisting, and disruption of magnetic threads within a coronal loop, and determine the distribution of heating produced. Instability and the subsequent formation of strong current layers supports a ‘bursty’ sequence of localized heating events, consistent with concepts of impulsive heating, associated with nanoflares, and giving a seeming ‘background’ level of heating.
The heating derived from this simulation is then used to investigate the thermal evolution of the plasma along the magnetic field. It is shown that the heating from this MHD avalanche may be capable of maintaining realistic coronal temperature and density.