TRACE observation of damped coronal loop oscillations: Implications for coronal heating

The imaging telescope on board the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer ( TRACE) spacecraft observed the decaying transversal oscillations of a Long [(130 +/- 6) x 10(6) meters], thin [diameter (2.0 +/- 0.36) x 10(6) meters] , bright coronal Loop in the 171 angstrom Fe-IX emission line. The oscillat ions were excited by a solar flare in the adjacent active region. The decay time of the oscillations is 14.5 +/- 2.7 minutes for an oscillation with a frequency 3.90 +/- 0.13 millihertz, The coronal dissipation coefficient is estimated to be eight to nine orders of magnitude Larger than the theoreti cally predicted classical value. The larger dissipation coefficient may sol ve existing difficulties with wave heating and reconnection theories.