Simulating nanoflares in the solar atmosphere: Analysis of synthetic observables

The extreme temperatures of the solar corona are continuously studied through observations and numerical modelling. The heating processes are connected to the magnetic field, but it is not yet determined how these processes work. We investigate the energy deposition of non-thermal electrons accelerated by magnetic reconnection in nanoflares through 3D numerical modelling of the solar atmosphere. In order to enhance the realism of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, we introduce a simple method for accelerated electrons to transport energy from reconnection sites into the lower atmosphere. The method was run for a short amount of time, and was compared to an almost identical simulation without accelerated electrons. Spectral line synthesis of Mg II h&k revealed a clear effect on the observables at the energy deposition site. The result implies that heating by accelerated electrons from nanoflares is necessary in order to model the upper solar atmosphere to a high precision. Future analysis of synthetic observables will be extended to other spectral diagnostics, such as from NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST) on La Palma.