Letter to the Editor

Non-thermal electrons from solar nanoflares

In a 3D radiative MHD simulation

¹ Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, PO Box 1029 Blindern, 0315 Oslo, Norway
e-mail: helle.bakke@astro.uio.no
² Rosseland Centre for Solar physics (RoCS), University of Oslo, PO Box 1029 Blindern, 0315 Oslo, Norway

Received: 24 August 2018
Accepted: 14 November 2018

Abstract

Context. We introduce a model for including accelerated particles in pure magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations of the solar atmosphere.

Aims. We show that the method is viable and produces results that enhance the realism of MHD simulations of the solar atmosphere.

Methods. The acceleration of high-energy electrons in solar flares is an accepted fact, but is not included in the most advanced 3D simulations of the solar atmosphere. The effect of the acceleration is not known, and here we introduce a simple method to account for the ability of the accelerated electrons to move energy from the reconnection sites and into the dense transition zone and chromosphere.

Results. The method was only run for a short time and with low reconnection energies, but this showed that the reconnection process itself changes, and that there is a clear effect on the observables at the impact sites of the accelerated electrons. Further work will investigate the effect on the reconnection sites and the impact sites in detail.