Forward modeling of emission in SDO/AIA passbands from dynamic 3D simulations

It is typically assumed that emission in the passbands of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is dominated by single or several strong lines from ions that under equilibrium con-ditions are formed in a narrow range of temperatures. However, most SDO/AIA channels also contain contributions from lines of ions that have formation temper-atures that are significantly different from the “dominant ” ion(s). We investigate the importance of these lines by forward modeling the emission in the SDO/AIA channels with 3D radiative MHD simulations of a model that spans the upper layer of the convection zone to the low corona. The model is highly dynamic. In addition, we pump a steadily increasing magnetic flux into the corona, in order to increase the coronal temperature through the dissipation of magnetic stresses. As a consequence, the model covers different ranges of coronal temperatures as time progresses. The model covers coronal temperatures that are representative of plasma conditions in coronal holes and quiet sun. The 131, 171, and 304 Å AIA passbands are found to be least influenced by the so-called “non-dominant” ions, and the emission observed in these channels comes mostly from plasma at temperatures near the formation temperature of the dominant ion(s). On the other hand, the other channels are strongly influenced by the non-dominant ions, ar X i