Nonlinear thermal instability in magnetized solar plasmas

The radiation-driven thermal instability might explain the formation and maintenance of cool dense regions embedded in a hotter more rarefied plasma. Structures of this type often are observed in astrophysical environments such as the solar corona or the interstellar medium. In the present work, the response of a magnetized solar transition-region plasma to a spatially random magnetic-field perturbation is simulated, where the magnetic field is perpendicular to the computational plane. It is found that the presence of the magnetic field, the value of the plasma beta, and the heating process significantly influence the number and size of the condensations as well as the evolutionary time scale. 24 refs