Speaker
Description
Understanding the dynamics of small-scale magnetic fields in the solar
photosphere is essential for interpreting the physical processes
occurring in the upper layers of the solar atmosphere, where magnetic
coupling drives chromospheric and coronal activity. In this work we
present an improved simulation framework designed to investigate the
statistical properties of magnetic-loop reconnections and their
contribution to energy release in the quiet Sun.
The model adopts an N-body approach and is structured into two
computational layers. We represent solar convection through a modified
Self-Organized Criticality (SOC) scheme in which the system not only
reproduces the power-law distribution of released energies, but also
preserves spatial–temporal coherence across the multiple convective
scales involved in the process. Mesogranulation emerges naturally as the
collective behavior of interacting granular-scale downflows, which
advect the magnetic footpoints and ultimately trigger loop reconnection
events.
A key advantage of this simplified N-body formulation over full MHD
modeling is its ability to simulate very large numbers of synthetic
events over extensive spatial (≈20 Mm) and temporal (several days)
domains. This allows us to capture the long-term, large-scale
statistical behavior of quiet-Sun magnetic activity at a fraction of the
computational cost of traditional MHD simulations.
Several technical improvements have been introduced with respect to
previous versions of the model. The computational domain has been
expanded to sizes exceeding a full supergranule, and the emergence rate
of magnetic elements has been increased to match values recently
observed by modern solar instruments. These enhancements enable a more
realistic representation of the quiet-Sun magnetic environment.
The resulting synthetic time series of nanoflares exhibits statistically
robust reconnection dynamics. Our analysis of the released energy as a
function of height demonstrates that the modeled dissipation profile can
provide sufficient energy to account for both chromospheric and coronal
heating. These results reinforce the potential of N-body, SOC-inspired
models as powerful tools for exploring multi-scale magnetic interactions
and energy release in the quiet solar atmosphere.
