DYNAMIC FORMATION AND ASSOCIATED HEATING OF A MAGNETIC LOOP ON THE SUN

To seek an atmospheric heating mechanism operating on the Sun we investigated a heating source generated by a downflow, both of which may arise in a magnetic loop dynamically formed on the Sun via flux emergence. Since an observation shows that the illumination of evolving magnetic loops under the dynamic formation occurs sporadically and intermittently, we performed a magnetohydrodynamic simulation of flux emergence to obtain a high-cadence simulated data, where temperature enhancement was identified at the footpoint of an evolving magnetic loop. Unlike a rigid magnetic loop with a confined flow in it, the evolving loop in a low plasma β atmosphere is subjected to local compression by the magnetic field surrounding the loop, which drives a strong supersonic downflow generating an effective footpoint heating source in it. This may introduce an energy conversion system to the magnetized atmosphere of the Sun, in which the free magnetic energy causing the compression via Lorentz force is converted to the flow energy, and eventually reduced to the thermal energy. Dynamic and thermodynamic states involved in the system are explained.