Large Scale Properties of Coronal Heating along the Solar Cycle

Abstract

We discuss various studies of the global properties of coronal heating. Some of them find power laws tying the X-ray luminosity with the magnetic flux of individual structures, of the whole Sun, and of active solar-type stars. Others are based on methods to model the Sun as an X-ray star. We also briefly discuss solar-like active stars and how the Sun fits in the whole scenario. We use a new model, including all flares, of the Sun as an X-ray star to describe the evolution of the corona along the solar cycle and the implications on the heating of closed coronal structures. We point out that, as activity increases, more heating is released into the confined coronal plasma and such a heating has to be, on average, more intense in order to explain the widespread evidence of a temperature increase with activity. By the same token, nanoflare heating (if existent) has to increase and decrease along the cycle differently from flares.