Power-Law Statistics Of Driven Reconnection In The Magnetically Closed Corona

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates through simulations that magnetic reconnection events in the solar corona follow power-law distributions, supporting the idea that coronal heating is driven by self-organized criticality due to convective motions.

Contribution

The study provides numerical evidence that reconnection-driven energetic events in the corona exhibit power-law distributions, aligning with observational data and supporting a self-organized criticality model.

Findings

Reconnection events follow power-law frequency distributions.

Simulation results match observed power-law slopes.

Coronal braiding can be explained by self-organized criticality.

Abstract

Numerous observations have revealed that power-law distributions are ubiquitous in energetic solar processes. Hard X-rays, soft X-rays, extreme ultraviolet radiation, and radio waves all display power-law frequency distributions. Since magnetic reconnection is the driving mechanism for many energetic solar phenomena, it is likely that reconnection events themselves display such power-law distributions. In this work, we perform numerical simulations of the solar corona driven by simple convective motions at the photospheric level. Using temperature changes, current distributions, and Poynting fluxes as proxies for heating, we demonstrate that energetic events occurring in our simulation display power-law frequency distributions, with slopes in good agreement with observations. We suggest that the braiding-associated reconnection in the corona can be understood in terms of a self-organized criticality model driven by convective rotational motions similar to those observed at the photosphere.