Solar Corona Heating by the Axion Quark Nugget Dark Matter [SSA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1805.01897


Astrophysics faces two 80-year-old mysteries: the nature of dark matter, and the high temperature of the million degree solar corona, radiating an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) excess of $10^{27}$ erg/s. The current paradigm is that the corona is heated by hypothetical nano-flares of unknown origin. Recently, in ref. (Zhitnitsky 2017) it was suggested that the nanoflares can be identified with the nuggets from the Axion Quark Nugget (AQN) dark matter model. This model was invented as an explanation of the observed ratio $\Omega_{\rm dark} \sim \Omega_{\rm visible}$, and has no free parameter other than the Axion mass. It is proposed that the AQN particles moving through the coronal plasma (and annihilating) can both explain the EUV excess and drastic changes of the temperature in the Transition Region. To test this proposal, we performed detailed numerical simulations with a realistic AQN particle distribution and physical environment. Remarkably, our calculations predict the correct energy budget for the solar corona, and an energy injection altitude in agreement with the temperature and mass density profile of the solar atmosphere. Therefore, we propose that the two 80-year-old mysteries could be two sides of the same coin. We make several predictions based on this proposal that can be tested by the upcoming NASA mission the Parker Solar Probe.

Read this paper on arXiv…

N. Raza, L. Waerbeke and A. Zhitnitsky
Tue, 8 May 18
28/69

Comments: 28 pages, submitted to JCAP