Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Nanoflare Heating during Active Region Evolution
Nanoflares are believed to be key contributors to heating solar nonflaring active regions, though their individual detection remains challenging. This study uses a data-driven field-aligned hydrodynamic model to examine nanoflare properties throughout the lifecycle of active region (AR) 12758. We si...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada3d6 |
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| author | Biswajit Mondal James A. Klimchuk Amy R. Winebarger P. S. Athiray Jiayi Liu |
| author_facet | Biswajit Mondal James A. Klimchuk Amy R. Winebarger P. S. Athiray Jiayi Liu |
| author_sort | Biswajit Mondal |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Nanoflares are believed to be key contributors to heating solar nonflaring active regions, though their individual detection remains challenging. This study uses a data-driven field-aligned hydrodynamic model to examine nanoflare properties throughout the lifecycle of active region (AR) 12758. We simulate coronal loop emissions, where each loop is heated by random nanoflares depending on the loop parameters derived from photospheric magnetograms observed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager. Simulated X-ray flux and temperature can reproduce the temporal variations observed by the Chandrayaan-2/Solar X-ray Monitor. Our findings show that high-frequency nanoflares contribute to cool emissions across the AR, while low- and intermediate-frequency primarily contribute to hot emissions. During the emerging phase, energy deposition is dominated by low-frequency events. Post-emergence, energy is deposited by both low- and intermediate-frequency nanoflares, while as the AR ages, the contribution from intermediate- and high-frequency nanoflares increases. The spatial distribution of heating frequencies across the AR reveals a clear pattern: the core of the active region spends most of its time in a low-frequency heating state, the periphery is dominated by high-frequency heating, and the region between the core and periphery experiences intermediate-frequency heating. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b99c194e00144222bdbc7d8d6885e6f6 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
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| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-b99c194e00144222bdbc7d8d6885e6f62025-02-05T08:03:28ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-0198017510.3847/1538-4357/ada3d6Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Nanoflare Heating during Active Region EvolutionBiswajit Mondal0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7020-2826James A. Klimchuk1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2255-0305Amy R. Winebarger2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5608-531XP. S. Athiray3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4454-147XJiayi Liu4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7290-0863NASA Postdoctoral Program, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center , ST13, Huntsville, AL, USA ; biswajit.mondal@nasa.govNASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Heliophysics Science Division , Greenbelt, MD 20771, USANASA Marshall Space Flight Center , ST13, Huntsville, AL, USANASA Marshall Space Flight Center , ST13, Huntsville, AL, USA; Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research, The University of Alabama in Huntsville , Huntsville, AL, USAInstitute for Astronomy, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa , 2680 Woodlawn Dr., Honolulu, HI 96822, USANanoflares are believed to be key contributors to heating solar nonflaring active regions, though their individual detection remains challenging. This study uses a data-driven field-aligned hydrodynamic model to examine nanoflare properties throughout the lifecycle of active region (AR) 12758. We simulate coronal loop emissions, where each loop is heated by random nanoflares depending on the loop parameters derived from photospheric magnetograms observed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager. Simulated X-ray flux and temperature can reproduce the temporal variations observed by the Chandrayaan-2/Solar X-ray Monitor. Our findings show that high-frequency nanoflares contribute to cool emissions across the AR, while low- and intermediate-frequency primarily contribute to hot emissions. During the emerging phase, energy deposition is dominated by low-frequency events. Post-emergence, energy is deposited by both low- and intermediate-frequency nanoflares, while as the AR ages, the contribution from intermediate- and high-frequency nanoflares increases. The spatial distribution of heating frequencies across the AR reveals a clear pattern: the core of the active region spends most of its time in a low-frequency heating state, the periphery is dominated by high-frequency heating, and the region between the core and periphery experiences intermediate-frequency heating.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada3d6Solar coronal heatingSolar x-ray emissionSolar active regions |
| spellingShingle | Biswajit Mondal James A. Klimchuk Amy R. Winebarger P. S. Athiray Jiayi Liu Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Nanoflare Heating during Active Region Evolution The Astrophysical Journal Solar coronal heating Solar x-ray emission Solar active regions |
| title | Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Nanoflare Heating during Active Region Evolution |
| title_full | Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Nanoflare Heating during Active Region Evolution |
| title_fullStr | Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Nanoflare Heating during Active Region Evolution |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Nanoflare Heating during Active Region Evolution |
| title_short | Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Nanoflare Heating during Active Region Evolution |
| title_sort | spatial and temporal distribution of nanoflare heating during active region evolution |
| topic | Solar coronal heating Solar x-ray emission Solar active regions |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada3d6 |
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