Talk abstract

The coronal heating and nanoflares are described within the drift wave theory as a natural stage in the kinetic growth of the gradient-driven instability. In this scenario, a growing mode with a sufficiently large amplitude leads to stochastic heating having the following features: i) it is due to the electrostatic nature of the waves, and ii) is more effective on ions than on electrons, iii) it acts predominantly in the perpendicular direction, iv) it heats heavy ions more efficiently than lighter ions, and v) may easily provide a heating rate that is orders of magnitude above the value that is presently believed to be sufficient for the coronal heating. This heating acts naturally through well known and experimentally verified mechanisms that are, however, beyond the current standard heating models and theories.