Space plasma and its origin at the sun
- 1 August 1991
- journal article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Physics of Fluids B: Plasma Physics
- Vol. 3 (8) , 2367-2373
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.859605
Abstract
This paper provides a concise review of the large picture of space plasmas, concentrating on the heliosphere and the origin of the x-ray corona and coronal hole at the sun. It is tentatively suggested that the active x-ray corona is heated primarily by the dissipation of magnetic energy at the spontaneous tangential discontinuities (current sheets) in the confining bipolar magnetic fields of active regions. The discontinuities arise because of the continuous mapping of the footpoints of the field by the photospheric convection. The coronal holes appear to be heated by a combination of Alfvén waves, providing the high-speed streams in the solar wind, and the microflaring in the small-scale network fields.Keywords
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