TRACE Observation of Damped Coronal Loop Oscillations: Implications for Coronal Heating

Narkariakov et al., Science, 285, 862, 1999

Abstract

The imaging telescope on board the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) spacecraft observed the decaying transversal oscillations of a long [(130 +/- 6) * 106 meters], thin [diameter (2.0 +/- 0.36) * 106 meters], bright coronal loop in the 171 angstrom FeIX emission line. The oscillations were excited by a solar flare in the adjacent active region. The decay time of the oscillations is 14.5 +/- 2.7 minutes for an oscillation with a frequency 3.90 +/- 0.13 millihertz. The coronal dissipation coefficient is estimated to be eight to nine orders of magnitude larger than the theorectically predicted classical value. The larger dissipation coefficient may solve existing difficulties with wave heating and reconnection theories.