How Turbulent is the Magnetically Closed Corona?

TL;DR

The paper argues that the magnetically closed solar corona evolves mainly through quasi-static processes with localized reconnection events, lacking a traditional turbulent cascade, thus challenging the idea of turbulence in this region.

Contribution

It presents a new perspective that the magnetically closed corona is not turbulent but exhibits complex, non-turbulent dynamics driven by localized magnetic reconnection.

Findings

Coronal evolution is primarily quasi-static with localized bursts.

No evidence of a traditional turbulent cascade in the corona.

Complex structure is not directly related to photospheric driving patterns.

Abstract

We argue that the magnetically closed corona evolves primarily quasi-statically, punctuated by many localized bursts of activity associated with magnetic reconnection at a myriad of small current sheets. The sheets form by various processes that do not involve a traditional turbulent cascade whereby energy flows losslessly through a continuum of spatial scales starting from the large scale of the photospheric driving. If such an inertial range is a defining characteristic of turbulence, then the magnetically closed corona is not a turbulent system. It nonetheless has a complex structure that bears no direct relationship to the pattern of driving.