Authors: Caroline Evans (Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder; Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences; National Solar Observatory), Cooper Downs (Predictive Science Inc.), Don Schmit (University of Colorado Boulder/Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)

The magnetic field of the Sun is a key driver to solar activity, space weather, and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). Currently, there is a mismatch between the calculated open magnetic flux at the photosphere and in-situ measurements of the IMF. From a modeling perspective, there are three key components that dictate the IMF: (1) the source and processing of magnetic boundary conditions, (2) the coronal heating rate and (3) magnetic free energy. Here, we choose to investigate how coronal heating influences the open flux of the global 3D corona by examining several data-constrained, thermodynamic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations for solar minimum conditions. We incrementally vary the overall heat deposited in the corona by modifying the wave-turbulence-driven heating rate. We show that with increasing heat, the open flux will also accordingly increase. We illustrate this with open flux maps, synthetic EUV emission images, and spherical harmonic decomposition.