An Ab Initio Approach to Solar Coronal Loops

Data from recent numerical simulations of the solar corona and transition region are analyzed, and the magnetic field connections between the low corona and the photosphere are found to be close to those of a potential field. The field line-to-field line displacements follow a power-law distribution with typical displacements of just a few Mm. Three loops visible in simulated TRACE filters are analyzed 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. The loops are nonstatic and 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.