  The physical processes that heat the solar corona and accelerate the solar
wind remain unknown after many years of study. Some have suggested that the
wind is driven by waves and turbulence in open magnetic flux tubes, and others
have suggested that plasma is injected into the open tubes by magnetic
reconnection with closed loops. In order to test the latter idea, we developed
Monte Carlo simulations of the photospheric "magnetic carpet" and extrapolated
the time-varying coronal field. These models were constructed for a range of
different magnetic flux imbalance ratios. Completely balanced models represent
quiet regions on the Sun and source regions of slow solar wind streams. Highly
imbalanced models represent coronal holes and source regions of fast wind
streams. The models agree with observed emergence rates, surface flux
densities, and number distributions of magnetic elements. Despite having no
imposed supergranular motions, a realistic network of magnetic "funnels"
appeared spontaneously. We computed the rate at which closed field lines open
up (i.e., recycling times for open flux), and we estimated the energy flux
released in reconnection events involving the opening up of closed flux tubes.
For quiet regions and mixed-polarity coronal holes, these energy fluxes were
found to be much lower than required to accelerate the solar wind. For the most
imbalanced coronal holes, the energy fluxes may be large enough to power the
solar wind, but the recycling times are far longer than the time it takes the
solar wind to accelerate into the low corona. Thus, it is unlikely that either
the slow or fast solar wind is driven by reconnection and loop-opening
processes in the magnetic carpet.
