Devilish details! Observational signatures of a multi-stranded, nanoflare-heated coronal loop

Robert Walsh (University of Central Lancashire)

There is a growing body of evidence that the solar atmospheric loops observed by current instrumentation onboard SOHO, TRACE, Hinode and STEREO may consist of many sub-resolution elements. Subsequently, the total emission we observe will be the combined radiation of many evolving plasma strands.

We present a "global loop" as 125 individual strands, with each modelled independently by a one-dimensional hydrodynamic simulation. The energy across the strands is released in nanoflares - localised, discrete heating events - and the strands are "coupled" through the frequency distribution of this energy input which follows a power law distribution.

The observational consequences of such a model are examined. Both forward folding of the plasma parameters through the various instrument response functions as well as calculation of a differential emission measure will be displayed to show that when it comes to understanding the dynamics of loops, the devil might really be in the detail!