The temperature structure of the quiescent regions of the solar corona

This thesis addresses the energy balance in the solar corona, and consequential requirement upon the ubiquitous heating mechanism. To this end the observations of the quiescent regions of the solar corona made with the Yohkoh Soft X-ray Telescope are utilised. These observations are most sensitive to coronal plasma in the region of two to ten million Kelvin, and thus provide a view of the most energetic parts of these regions where heating would be expected to take place. In all regions investigated the temperature is observed to increase with height above the solar limb. This is interpreted as evidence of sustained heating up to the maximum observed height of almost several hundred megametres (one solar radius). A more refined examination of the energetics along a resolvable complex of magnetic elements (Coronal Loop), and through the axis of an arcade is used to determine the most suitable heating mechanism to reproduce the observed soft X-ray emission