Dear
A number of you have expressed interest
in a flowchart I showed at the Loops III Workshop that deals with the
isothermal/multi-thermal issue, so I am attaching a copy here. It tries
to present the reasoning behind the conclusion that some loops must be
multi-thermal (composed of unresolved, impulsively-heated strands at different temperatures).
The boxes with blue type contain questions that can be answered observationally.
Depending on the answers, an isothermal interpretation might be
reasonable. However, if the answers lead to the lower-right corner of the
chart, then there is a major inconsistency and therefore something fundamental
that we do not understand.
At the time of the workshop, there
was a question of whether the observed over densities can be explained by
thermal nonequilibrium (the lack of equilibrium when steady heating is
sufficiently highly concentrated near the footpoints). I can now confirm
that it can. However, whether the other observational properties can also
be explained is currently being investigated.
Best wishes,
Jim
----------------------------------------
James A. Klimchuk
Space Science Division
Naval Research
Lab
Phone: 202-404-8136
Fax: 202-404-7997
----------------------------------------