Annihilation of Magnetic Islands at the Top of Solar Flare Loops

The dynamics of magnetic reconnection in the solar current sheet (CS) is studied by high-resolution 2.5-dimensional MHD simulation. With the commencing of magnetic reconnection, a number of magnetic islands are formed intermittently and move quickly upward and downward along the CS. Upon collision with the semi-closed flux of the flare loops, the downflow islands cause a second reconnection with a rate comparable with that in the main CS. Though the time-integrated magnetic energy release is still dominated by the reconnection in the main CS, the second reconnection can release substantial magnetic energy, annihilating the main islands and generating secondary islands with various scales at the flare loop top. The distribution function of the flux of the secondary islands is found to follow a power law varying from f ψ ∼ ψ − 1 (small scale) to ψ −2 (large scale), which seems to be independent to background plasma β and thermal conduction (TC). However, the spatial scale and the strength of the termination shocks driven by the main reconnection outflows or islands decrease if β increases or if TC is included. We suggest that the annihilation of magnetic islands at the flare loop top, which is not included in the standard flare model, plays a nonnegligible role in releasing magnetic energy to heat flare plasma and accelerate particles.

First results of the STIX hard X-ray telescope onboard Solar Orbiter

<p>With the launch and commissioning of Solar Orbiter, the Spectrometer/Telescope for Imaging X-rays (STIX) is the latest hard X-ray telescope to study solar flares over a large range of flare sizes. STIX uses hard X-ray imaging spectroscopy in the range from 4 to 150 keV to diagnose the hottest temperature of solar flare plasma and the related nonthermal accelerated electrons. The unique orbit away from the Earth-Sun line in combination with the opportunity of joint observations with other Solar Orbiter instruments, STIX will provide new inputs into understanding the magnetic energy release and particle acceleration in solar flares. Commissioning observations showed that STIX is working as designed and therefore we report on the first solar microflare observations recorded on June 2020, when the spacecraft was at 0.52 AU from the Sun. STIX’s measurements are compared with Earth-orbiting observatories, such as GOES and SDO/AIA, for which we investigate and interpret the different temporal evolution. The detected early peak of the STIX profiles relative to GOES is due either by nonthermal X-ray emission of accelerated particles interacting with the dense chromosphere or the higher sensitivity of STIX toward hotter plasma.</p>

Fast Magnetic Reconnection by Turbulence with High Landquist Number

<p>We report detailed numerical studies of magnetic reconnection in high-Lundquist-number, turbulent plasma by means of a three-dimensional (3D) resistive magnetohydrodynamics model. It is found that although turbulence is pre-existing, magnetic fields still restructure themselves to shape many X-points with evident mean inflow/outflow as well as the hierarchically generated magnetic flux ropes (plasmoids in 2D) with twist field lines. Moreover, the turbulence facilitates magnetic reconnections, and makes the normalized global reconnection rate reach ∼ 0.02 − 0.1, corresponding to turbulence level from very low to high and magnetic energy release from feeble to violent. The rate is nearly independent on the Lundquist number, and thus the fast turbulent reconnection occurs. A stochastic separation of the reconnected magnetic field lines with large opening angles follows a super-diffusion, indicating the broadening of outflow regions owing to the turbulence. These findings manifest that with the high Lundquist numbers (S ≥ 10^4), the 3D reconnection is turbulent and fast.</p>

Large polar caps for twisted magnetosphere of magnetars

The magnetic field of magnetars may be twisted compared with that of normal pulsars. Previous works mainly discussed magnetic energy release in the closed field line regions of magnetars. For a twisted magnetic field, the field lines will inflate in the radial direction. Similar to normal pulsars, the idea of light cylinder radius is introduced. More field lines will cross the light cylinder and become open for a twisted magnetic field. Therefore, magnetars may have a large polar cap, which may correspond to the hot spot during outburst. Particle flow in the open field line regions will result in the untwisting of the magnetic field. Magnetic energy release in the open field line regions can be calculated. The model calculations can catch the general trend of magnetar outburst: decreasing X-ray luminosity, shrinking hot spot etc. For magnetic energy release in the open field line regions, the geometry will be the same for different outburst in one magnetar.

Self-cancellation of solar ephemeral regions observed by SDO

We study the ephemeral regions (ERs) in the quiet Sun observed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, and find that they can be classified into two types: normal ERs (NERs) and self-cancelled ERs (SERs). We identify 2988 ERs among which there are 190 SERs, about 6.4% of the ERs. The total self-cancelled flux is 9.8% of the total ER flux. We suggest that the self-cancellation of SERs is caused by the submergence of magnetic loops connecting the dipolar patches, without magnetic energy release.

Magnetic energy release: flares and coronal mass ejections

Free energy stored in the magnetic field is the source that powers solar and stellar activity at all temporal and spatial scales. The energy released during transient atmospheric events is contained in current-carrying magnetic fields that have emerged twisted and may be further stressed via motions in the lower atmospheric layers (i.e. loop-footpoint motions). Magnetic reconnection is thought to be the mechanism through which the stored magnetic energy is transformed into kinetic energy of accelerated particles and mass flows, and radiative energy along the whole electromagnetic spectrum. This mechanism works efficiently at scale lengths much below the spatial resolution of even the highest resolution solar instruments; however, it may imply a large-scale restructuring of the magnetic field inferred indirectly from the combined analysis of observations and models of the magnetic field topology. The aftermath of magnetic energy release includes events ranging from nanoflares, which are below our detection limit, to powerful flares, which may be accompanied by the ejection of large amounts of plasma and magnetic field (so called coronal mass ejections, CMEs), depending on the amount of total available free magnetic energy, the magnetic flux density distribution, the magnetic field configuration, etc. We describe key observational signatures of flares and CMEs on the Sun, their magnetic field topology, and discuss how the combined analysis of solar and interplanetary observations can be used to constrain the flare/CME ejection mechanism.