From incoherent field to coherent reconnection: Understanding convection-driven coronal heating in the quiet Sun

Abstract

Context. Magnetic reconnection in the quiet Sun is a phenomenon that is consistently observed, however, its conditions of occurrence are not as well known as for more energetic events. It has recently become feasible to address this issue with 3D numerical simulations of realistically stratified and convection-driven reconnection. Aims. We aim to illustrate ways by which quiet Sun fields may contribute to solar atmospheric heating via magnetic reconnection that is driven by convective motion. We also aim to compare our complex stratified model to earlier idealized coronal models in terms of reconnection drivers and topological conditions. Methods. We analyzed a simulation of the quiet Sun in which a complex coronal magnetic field is self-consistently driven by the underlying convection. We employed a selection of Lagrangian markers to trace the spatiotemporal behavior of specific magnetic features that are relevant to magnetic reconnection and atmospheric heating. Results. A relatively large-scale reconnection-driven heating event occurs in the simulated corona, in a flattened X-shaped feature characterized by a weak field and high current. It is reminiscent of a hyperbolic flux tube (HFT), which is located at the interface between multiple flux systems. One of these is a smooth overlying horizontal field and the two most relevant others are located below the HFT. They consist of an arcade and a horizontal flux rope which eventually reconnect with the overlying field, raising coronal plasma temperatures up to 1.47 MK. Conclusions. We have identified a reconnection-driven coronal heating event in a quiet Sun simulation. We find that our results are in good phenomenological agreement with idealized coronal flare models, which demonstrates that the same general physical concepts are valid. However, we also find that the reconnecting flux rope and arcade are neither formed by any obvious coherent flux emergence, nor by any ordered photospheric motion or flux cancellation. Instead, they seem to develop merely from the self-consistent convective driving of pre-existing tangled field lines. This gradual and smooth ordering suggests an inverse cascade of magnetic helicity via smaller reconnection events, located at or above slowly-moving photospheric flux concentrations. We suggest that this case is representative of many heating events that may be ubiquitous in the real quiet Sun.