An Ab Initio Approach to Solar Coronal Loops

Data from recent numerical simulations of the solar corona and transition region are analysed and the magnetic field connection between the low corona and the photosphere is found to be close to that of a potential field. The fieldline to fieldline displacements follow a power law distribution with typical displacements of just a few Mm. Three loops visible in emulated Transition Region And Coronal Explorer (TRACE) filters are analysed in detail and found to have significantly different heating rates and distributions thereof, one of them showing a small scale heating event. The dynamical structure is complicated even though all the loops are visible in a single filter along most of their lengths. None of the loops are static, but are in the process of evolving into loops with very different characteristics. Differential Emission Measure (DEM) curves along one of the loops illustrate that DEM curves have to be treated carefully if physical characteristics are to be extracted. Subject headings: Sun: corona – Sun: magnetic fields – MHD