NONLINEAR STUDIES OF CORONAL HEATING BY THE RESONANT ABSORPTION OF ALFVEN WAVES

The first nonlinear study of the instability of the resonant absorptio n is presented in this paper. The nonlinear evolution of the resonant absorption of Alfven waves in an inhomogeneous plasma is studied via s olution of the time-dependent 3-D, low-beta, resistive MHD equations. Highly sheared velocities that are subject to the Kelvin-Helmholtz lik e instability are found at the narrow dissipation layers. Three dimens ional Kelvin-Helmholtz like vortices appear at and near the dissipatio n layers and propagate along the slab of plasma. The narrow resonant h eating layers are deformed by the self-consistent shear flow. In the s olar active regions where the resonant absorption of Alfven waves is b elieved to occur the instability may lead to turbulent enhancement of the dissipation parameters and account for the observed turbulent velo cities inferred from the non-thermal broadening of x-ray and EUV emiss ion lines.