On the electric circuit approach of coronal heating: a review

Abstract

It is now widely believed that the photosphere of the Sun and its outer atmosphere (chromosphere and corona) are electrodynamically coupled through interconnecting magnetic fields. A similar situation may exist in other stars. The electric circuit approach provides a formalism through which the coupling of inner and outer regions of stars can be adequately described, and many seemingly diverse heating mechanisms can be unified. The physics of stellar atmospheres can be better understood through electric circuit analogues because the theory of electric circuits is well understood.