SMuK 2021 – scientific programme

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EP: Fachverband Extraterrestrische Physik

EP 1: Sun and Heliosphere I

EP 1.4: Invited Talk

Monday, August 30, 2021, 12:00–12:30, H7

Coronal bright points (small-scale loops) in the solar atmosphere — •Maria S. Madjarska — Max-Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany

When observed in extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) and X-rays, the million degree solar atmosphere, the solar corona, is predominantly populated by loops with a wide range of sizes. During the maximum of the solar activity cycle, bright active-region loops connect the opposite polarity strong magnetic fields of sunspots. Back in 1969 the first X-ray observations astonished the solar scientists by revealing that the solar corona that has been known as quiet and homogenous, is occupied by many bright point-like X-ray emission sources. They were named X-ray Bright Points (XBPs, now called Coronal Bright points, CBPs). Later, the Skylab observations showed that the XBPs actually represent dynamically evolving small-scale loops that confine plasma heated to up to 3 million degrees. It is now known that these small-scale loops are the main building blocks of the solar atmosphere outside active regions uniformly populating the solar atmosphere including active-region latitudes and coronal holes. I will present this essential class of solar phenomena, giving an overview of the current knowledge about their general, plasma, and magnetic properties as well as transient dynamic phenomena associated with them. The observationally derived energetics and the theoretical modelling that aims at explaining the CBP formation and eruptive behaviour, and their role in coronal heating and their contribution to the solar wind, will also be reviewed.