Small explosions the solar atmosphere

These events are localised regions with small spatial extent that show sudden enhancements of line intensities associated with strong non-Gaussian broadenings at wide temperature ranges. We believe these events may serve as the building blocks of the heating mechanism of the solar atmosphere.

The present work describes the progress made on their observations and numerical modelling based on a reconnection-type physical process. MHD simulations are performed to explore the properties of these micro-scale events and their relevance to heating.

In order to assess the physical model involved the numerical results of MHD simulations are converted into observable UV line profiles in non-equilibrium ionisation. The confrontation of theoretical studies with observational data shows an excellent agreement between theory and SOHO observations.

For preprints contact: Robertus@sheffield.ac.uk