The thermal structure of the solar corona

Enrico Landi (Artep, Inc./Naval Research Laboratory)

The heating of the solar corona, as well as the acceleration of the solar wind, are intimately connected with the thermal structure of the solar corona, i.e. the distribution of coronal plasma with temperature.

In this talk I will review 1) the main diagnostic techniques we use to study the thermal structure of the solar corona, and 2) the measurements obtained from the CDS and SUMER spectrometers on board the SOHO satellite. I will use both reviews to discuss the common assumption that the coronal plasma temperature distribution is continuous, and show that such assumption is incorrect. I will present a new picture of the thermal structure of the solar corona based on SOHO measurements, and discuss its implications.