Abstract
This paper is a pedagogical introduction to avalanche models of solar flares, including a comprehensive review of recent modeling efforts and directions. This class of flare model is built on a recent paradigm in statistical physics, known as self-organized criticality. The basic idea is that flares are the result of an ‘avalanche’ of small-scale magnetic reconnection events cascading through a highly stressed coronal magnetic structure, driven to a critical state by random photospheric motions of its magnetic footpoints. Such models thus provide a natural and convenient computational framework to examine Parker's hypothesis of coronal heating by nanoflares.
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Charbonneau, P., McIntosh, S.W., Liu, HL. et al. Avalanche models for solar flares (Invited Review). Sol Phys 203, 321–353 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013301521745
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013301521745