THE THERMAL STRUCTURE OF THE MAGNETIZED SOLAR TRANSITION REGION

The detailed thermal structure of the magnetized solar transition regi on, as measured by its differential emission measure [DEM(T)], is unkn own. Proposals have been made that envision a significant lower-temper ature contribution to the energy balance from cross-field (ion) heat f lux. In this paper, we describe a self-consistent, 2-D, MHD simulation (including the full effects of anisotropic thermal conduction) of a c onceptual model due to Athay (1990). We display the detailed, irregula r, thermal and magnetic structure of the transition region, and demons trate that the predicted DEM agrees with observations, particularly in the T < 10(5) K regime where previous theories had difficulty.