A Topic in Coronal Heating

The problem of Coronal Heating, understanding how the solar corona is heated to a temperature many magnitudes greater than that of the solar surface, remains an outstanding problem in astrophysics. This problem has existed for over 80 years, with recent advancements driven by improved observations and the development of more rigorous and sophisticated computer models.

The phase mixing of Alfvén waves has long been suggested as a possible coronal heating mechanism. A recent paper by Van Damme used magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations to investigate how heating caused by the phase-mixing of Alfvén waves quantitatively affects evaporation, and how this evaporation may influence the transverse density profile. The study concluded that due to the initial conditions selected , there was only an insignificant impact upon the density gradient. This project will begin by expanding upon this work, using the Lare2D code to study how evaporation may impact the density profile.