Plasma flow around coronal loops

Current dissipation models of coronal loop heating are studied. Turbulent current dissipation is shown to lead to a time-dependent process because of an enormous mass motion induced in the current layer. A stationary heating process involves only ohmic heating, which requires a large current layer. To insure MHD stability, the loop must be composed of many elements with the oppositely directed currents. A stationary current dissipation process induces the plasma motion across the magnetic field into the loop and down the loop with the speeds v similar to 10 super(4) cm sec super(-) super(1) and v || similar to 2 x 10 super(4) cm sec super(-) super(1) , respectively. The pressure of the loop is also estimated to be proportional to the current density: p/J = 6.3 x 10 super(-) super(8) dyn/statamp.