Dynamics of solar coronal loops. I. Condensation in cool loops and its effect on transition region lines

Abstract

We report numerical calculations of the condensation of plasma in short coronal loops, which have several interesting physical consequences. Firstly, we propose a connection between small, cool loops (T < 10⁶ K), which constitute one of the basic components of the solar transition region, and prominences, in the sense that the same physical mechanism governs their dynamics: Namely the onset of instability and runaway cooling due to strong radiative losses. Secondly, we show that the temporal evolution of these loop models exhibits a cyclic pattern of chromospheric evaporation, condensation, motion of the condensation region to either side of the loop, and finally loop reheating with a period of 4000-8000 s for a loop of 10 Mm length. Thirdly, we have synthesized transition region lines from these calculations which show strong periodic intensity variations, making condensation in loops a candidate to account for observed transient brightenings of solar transition region lines. Remarkably, all these dynamic processes take place for a heating function which is constant in time and has a simple exponential height dependence.