Nanoflares as a possible coronal heating agent

Abstract

We present the concept of coronal heating by nanoflares and the characteristics of active regions which result presumbly from a series of discrete events of various energies analogeus to a large number of more or less random heating agents. The flare associated with small impulsive events of magnetic energy dissipation is from 5 x 1023 to 1025 ergs, called nanoflares and it is treated as heating agents. The analysis of these agents are represented by a power law distribution as a function of their energies with a negative slope of 2. We discuss the physical characteristics of nanoflare heating process in respect of power law distribution and formulate the coronal luminosity. We estimate the coronal radiation energy and generation rate by nanoflares.