The possible role of MHD waves in heating the solar corona

The possible role of waves in the heating of the solar corona has been investigated. A general dispersion relation has been derived for waves propagating in a homogeneous plasma subject to dissipation by viscosity and thermal conduction. The dissipation mechanisms have been incorporated self-consistently into the equations, and no assumptions about the strength of the damping have been made. Solutions of the sixth-order dispersion relation provide information on how the damping of both slow and fast mode waves depends upon the plasma density, temperature, field strength, and angle of propagation relative to the background magnetic field. We provide a detailed comparison to the standard approach, which is to solve for the wave quantities in the absence of dissipation and then to use these quantities in expressions for the heating due to viscosity and thermal conduction.