Role of magnetic carpet in coronal heating

One of the fundamental questions in solar physics is how the solar corona maintains its high temperature of several million Kelvin above photosphere with a temperature of 6000 K. Observations show that solar coronal heating problem is highly complex with many different facts. It is likely that different heating mechanisms are at work in the solar corona. The separate kinds of coronal loops may also be heated by different mechanisms. Using data from instruments onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and from the more recent Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) scientists have identified small regions of mixed polarity, termed magnetic carpet contributing to solar activity on a short time scale. Magnetic loops of all sizes rise into the solar corona, arising from regions of opposite magnetic polarity in the photosphere. Energy released when oppositely directed magnetic fields meet in the corona is one likely cause for coronal heating. There is enough energy coming up from the loops of the “magnetic carpet” to heat the corona to its known temperature.