Yan Xiaoli, Xue Zhike, Jiang Chaowei, Priest E R, Kliem Bernhard, Yang Liheng, Wang Jincheng, Kong Defang, Song Yongliang, Feng Xueshang, Liu Zhong
Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, 650216, People's Republic of China.
State Key Laboratory of Space Weather, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, People's Republic of China.
Nat Commun. 2022 Feb 2;13(1):640. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-28269-w.
Magnetic reconnection is a multi-faceted process of energy conversion in astrophysical, space and laboratory plasmas that operates at microscopic scales but has macroscopic drivers and consequences. Solar flares present a key laboratory for its study, leaving imprints of the microscopic physics in radiation spectra and allowing the macroscopic evolution to be imaged, yet a full observational characterization remains elusive. Here we combine high resolution imaging and spectral observations of a confined solar flare at multiple wavelengths with data-constrained magnetohydrodynamic modeling to study the dynamics of the flare plasma from the current sheet to the plasmoid scale. The analysis suggests that the flare resulted from the interaction of a twisted magnetic flux rope surrounding a filament with nearby magnetic loops whose feet are anchored in chromospheric fibrils. Bright cusp-shaped structures represent the region around a reconnecting separator or quasi-separator (hyperbolic flux tube). The fast reconnection, which is relevant for other astrophysical environments, revealed plasmoids in the current sheet and separatrices and associated unresolved turbulent motions.
磁重联是天体物理、空间和实验室等离子体中一个多方面的能量转换过程，它在微观尺度上运作，但具有宏观驱动因素和后果。太阳耀斑是其研究的关键实验室，微观物理在辐射光谱中留下印记，并能使宏观演化成像，然而完整的观测特征仍难以捉摸。在这里，我们将多波长下对一个受限太阳耀斑的高分辨率成像和光谱观测与数据约束磁流体动力学建模相结合，以研究耀斑等离子体从电流片到等离子体块尺度的动力学。分析表明，该耀斑是由围绕暗条的扭曲磁通量绳与附近磁环相互作用产生的，这些磁环的根部锚定在色球纤维中。明亮的尖状结构代表了重联分离器或准分离器（双曲线通量管）周围的区域。与其他天体物理环境相关的快速重联揭示了电流片中的等离子体块和分隔线以及相关的未解析湍流运动。
