How Turbulent is the Magnetically Closed Corona?

• Main Authors: James A. Klimchuk, Spiro K. Antiochos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-05-01
• Series: Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
• Subjects: turbulence; magnetically closed corona; current sheets; energy power spectrum; inertial range; nanoflares
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2021.662861/full

We argue that the magnetically closed corona evolves primarily quasi-statically, punctuated by many localized bursts of activity associated with magnetic reconnection at a myriad of small current sheets. The sheets form by various processes that do not involve a traditional turbulent cascade whereby energy flows losslessly through a continuum of spatial scales starting from the large scale of the photospheric driving. If such an inertial range is a defining characteristic of turbulence, then the magnetically closed corona is not a turbulent system. It nonetheless has a complex structure that bears no direct relationship to the pattern of driving.