Imaging coronal magnetic-field reconnection in a solar flare
Yang Su,Astrid Veronig,Gordon D. Holman,Brian R. Dennis,Tongjiang Wang,Tongjiang Wang,Manuela Temmer,Weiqun Gan +7 more
TLDR
In this article, the authors presented extreme ultraviolet and X-ray observations of a solar flare showing magnetic reconnection with a level of clarity not previously achieved, including inflowing cool loops and newly formed outflowing hot loops.Abstract:
Magnetic-field reconnection is believed to play a fundamental role in magnetized plasma systems throughout the Universe(1), including planetary magnetospheres, magnetars and accretion disks around black holes. This letter presents extreme ultraviolet and X-ray observations of a solar flare showing magnetic reconnection with a level of clarity not previously achieved. The multi-wavelength extreme ultraviolet observations from SDO/AIA show inflowing cool loops and newly formed, outflowing hot loops, as predicted. RHESSI X-ray spectra and images simultaneously show the appearance of plasma heated to >10MK at the expected locations. These two data sets provide solid visual evidence of magnetic reconnection producing a solar flare, validating the basic physical mechanism of popular flare models. However, new features are also observed that need to be included in reconnection and flare studies, such as three-dimensional non-uniform, non-steady and asymmetric evolution.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Imaging and Spectroscopic Observations of Magnetic Reconnection and Chromospheric Evaporation in a Solar Flare
Hui Tian,Gang Li,Katharine K. Reeves,John C. Raymond,Fan Guo,Wei Liu,Bin Chen,Nicholas A. Murphy +7 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reported the detection of a greatly redshifted (∼125 km s{sup -1} along the line of sight) Fe XXI 1354.08 emission line with a ∼100 km s−sup −1} nonthermal width at the reconnection site of a flare, which coincides spatially with the loop-top X-ray source observed by RHESSI.
Journal ArticleDOI
Observing the release of twist by magnetic reconnection in a solar filament eruption
Zhike Xue,Xiaoli Yan,Xin Cheng,Liheng Yang,Yingna Su,Bernhard Kliem,Bernhard Kliem,Jun Zhang,Zhong Liu,Yi Bi,Yongyuan Xiang,Kai Yang,Li Zhao +12 more
TL;DR: Evidence of fast reconnection in a solar filament eruption is presented using high-resolution H-alpha images from the New Vacuum Solar Telescope, supplemented by extreme ultraviolet observations, to demonstrate a new role for reconnections in solar eruptions: the release of magnetic twist.
Journal ArticleDOI
From Coronal Observations to MHD Simulations, the Building Blocks for 3D Models of Solar Flares (Invited Review)
TL;DR: In this article, the authors summarized the processes that can account for the build-up and release of energy during solar flares, focusing on the development of recent 3D numerical simulations that explain many of the observed flare features.
Journal ArticleDOI
General theory of the plasmoid instability
TL;DR: In this article, a general theory of the plasmoid instability is formulated by means of a principle of least time, and scaling relations for the final aspect ratio, transition time to rapid onset, growth rate, and number of plasmoids are derived and shown to depend on the initial perturbation amplitude, the characteristic rate of current sheet evolution, and the Lundquist number.
Journal ArticleDOI
From coronal observations to MHD simulations, the building blocks for 3D models of solar flares
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors summarize the processes that can account for the build up and release of energy during solar flares and present a few observational examples that, together with numerical modelling, point to the underlying physical mechanisms of the eruptions.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)
James R. Lemen,Alan M. Title,David J. Akin,Paul Boerner,C. Chou,Jerry F. Drake,Dexter W. Duncan,Christopher G. Edwards,Frank M. Friedlaender,Gary F. Heyman,Neal E. Hurlburt,N. Katz,Gary D. Kushner,M. Levay,Russell W. Lindgren,D. Mathur,Edward L. McFeaters,Sarah D. Mitchell,Roger A. Rehse,Carolus J. Schrijver,L. Springer,L. Springer,Robert A. Stern,Theodore D. Tarbell,Jean-Pierre Wuelser,C. Jacob Wolfson,C. Yanari,Jay A. Bookbinder,Peter Cheimets,David Caldwell,Edward E. DeLuca,Richard Gates,Leon Golub,Sang Park,William A. Podgorski,R. I. Bush,Philip H. Scherrer,Mark A. Gummin,Peter L. Smith,Gary Auker,Paul Jerram,Peter J. Pool,Regina Soufli,David L. Windt,Sarah Beardsley,Matthew Clapp,J. Lang,Nicholas R. Waltham +47 more
TL;DR: The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) as discussed by the authors provides multiple simultaneous high-resolution full-disk images of the corona and transition region up to 0.5 R ⊙ above the solar limb with 1.5-arcsec spatial resolution and 12-second temporal resolution.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)
TL;DR: The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) was launched on 11 February 2010 at 15:23 UT from Kennedy Space Center aboard an Atlas V 401 (AV-021) launch vehicle as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Reuven Ramaty High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (Rhessi)
Robert P. Lin,Brian R. Dennis,G. J. Hurford,David M. Smith,Alex Zehnder,Peter Harvey,D. W. Curtis,David H. Pankow,Paul Turin,Manfred Bester,André Csillaghy,M. Lewis,Norman W. Madden,H. F. van Beek,M. Appleby,T. Raudorf,J. M. McTiernan,Reuven Ramaty,E. J. Schmahl,Richard A. Schwartz,Säm Krucker,R. Abiad,T. Quinn,Peter Berg,M. Hashii,R. Sterling,R. Jackson,R. Pratt,Robert Campbell,D. Malone,D. Landis,Christopher Barrington-Leigh,S. Slassi-Sennou,C.P. Cork,David C. Clark,D. Amato,Larry E. Orwig,Robert F. Boyle,I. S. Banks,K. Shirey,Anne K. Tolbert,Dominic M. Zarro,Frank Snow,Knud Thomsen,Reinhold Henneck,A. Mchedlishvili,P. Ming,M. D. Fivian,John Jordan,Richard Wanner,Jerry Crubb,J. Preble,M. Matranga,Arnold O. Benz,Hugh S. Hudson,Richard C. Canfield,Gordon D. Holman,Carol Jo Crannell,Takeo Kosugi,A. G. Emslie,N. Vilmer,John C. Brown,Christopher M. Johns-Krull,Markus J. Aschwanden,Thomas R. Metcalf,A. J. Conway +65 more
TL;DR: RHESSI as discussed by the authors is a Principal Investigator (PI) mission, where the PI is responsible for all aspects of the mission except the launch vehicle, and is designed to investigate particle acceleration and energy release in solar flares, through imaging and spectroscopy of hard X-ray/gamma-ray continua emitted by energetic electrons, and of gamma-ray lines produced by energetic ions.
Journal ArticleDOI
A loop-top hard X-ray source in a compact solar flare as evidence for magnetic reconnection
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify the reconnection region as the site of particle acceleration, suggesting that the basic physics of the magnetic reconnection process may be common to both types of flares.
Journal ArticleDOI
The magnetic nature of solar flares
Eric Priest,Terry G. Forbes +1 more
TL;DR: The main challenge for the theory of solar eruptions has been to understand two basic aspects of large flares: the cause of the flare itself and the nature of the morphological features which form during its evolution as mentioned in this paper.
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