We study an eruptive X1.1 circular-ribbon flare on 2013 November 10, combining multiwavelength observations with a coronal field reconstruction using a non-force-free field method. In the first stage, a filament forms via magnetic reconnection between two mildly twisted sheared arcades, which are embedded under the fan dome associated with a null point. This reconnection seems to be driven by photospheric shearing and converging flows around the inner two arcade footpoints, consistent with the flare-related changes of transverse field. The southern portion of the filament rises upward due to torus instability and pushes against the null point. The induced null point reconnection then generates the circular ribbon and the initial remote brightening in the west, as accelerated electrons precipitate along the fan and propagate outward along quasi-separatix surfaces with high values of the squashing factor (Q) in the envelope fields, which have a curtain-like shape here. In the second stage, the southern end of the flux rope breaks away from the surface, sequentially disrupts the dome and overlying fields, and erupts in a whipping-like fashion to become a partial halo coronal mass ejection. This leads to an enhanced flare emission and fast-moving remote brightenings at the footpoints of the magnetic curtain, which span a remarkably broad region and are also associated with coronal dimmings. This is a rare example of eruptive circular-ribbon flares, in which the evolution of a flux rope from its formation to successful eruption out of the dome and the resulting unusually extended remote brightenings are completely observed.
A statistical study of the chromospheric ribbon evolution in H$α$ two-ribbon flares is performed. The data set consists of 50 confined ($62\,\%$) and eruptive ($38\,\%$) flares that occurred from June 2000 to June 2015. The flares are selected homogeneously over the H$α$ and $\textit{GOES}$ (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) classes, with an emphasis on including powerful confined flares and weak eruptive flares. H$α$ filtergrams from Kanzelhöhe Observatory in combination with $\textit{MDI}$ (Michelson Doppler Imager) and $\textit{HMI}$ (Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager) magne…
We report multi-wavelength study of a complex M-class solar eruptive flare that consists of three different sets of flare ribbons, viz. circular, parallel, and remote ribbons. Magnetic field modeling of source active region NOAA 12242 exhibits the presence of 3D null-point magnetic topology which encompasses an inner bipolar region. The event initiates with the faint signatures of the circular ribbon along with remote brightening right from the pre-flare phase which points toward the ongoing slow yet persistent null-point reconnection. We first detected flux cancellation and an associated brig…
On 23 July 2016 after 05:00\,UTC, the first 48-antenna stage of the Siberian Radioheliograph detected two flares of M7.6 and M5.5 GOES importance that occurred within half an hour in the same active region. Their multi-instrument analysis reveals the following. The microwave spectra were flattened at low frequencies and the spectrum of the stronger burst had a lower turnover frequency. Each flare was eruptive, emitted hard X-rays and gamma-rays exceeding 800\,keV, and had a rare three-ribbon configuration. An extended hard X-ray source associated with a longest middle ribbon was observed in th…
We studied the background field for 60 two-ribbon flares of M-and-above classes during 2011--2015. These flares are categorized into two groups, i.e., \emph{eruptive} and \emph{confined} flares, based on whether a flare is associated with a coronal mass ejection or not. The background field of source active regions is approximated by a potential field extrapolated from the $B_z$ component of vector magnetograms provided by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager. We calculated the decay index $n$ of the background field above the flaring polarity inversion line, and defined a critical height $h_\…
Using the HMI/SDO vector magnetic field observations, we studied the relation of degree of magnetic non-potentiality with the observed flare/CME in active regions. From a sample of 77 flare/CME cases, we found a general relation that degree of non-potentiality is positively correlated with the flare strength and the associated CME speeds. Since the magnetic flux in the flare-ribbon area is more related to the reconnection, we trace the strong gradient polarity inversion line (SGPIL), Schrijver's R value manually along the flare-ribbon extent. Manually detected SGPIL length and R values show hi…
The disintegration of solar filaments via mass drainage is a frequently observed phenomenon during a variety of filament activities. It is generally considered that the draining of dense filament material is directed by both gravity and magnetic field, yet the detailed process remains elusive. Here we report on a partial filament eruption during which filament material drains downward to the surface not only along the filament's legs, but to a remote flare ribbon through a fan-out curtain-like structure. It is found that the magnetic configuration is characterized by two conjoining dome-like q…
This paper studies the magnetic topology of successively erupting active regions (ARs) 11429 and 12371. Employing vector magnetic field observations from Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, the pre-eruptive magnetic structure is reconstructed by a model of non-linear force-free field (NLFFF). For all the five CMEs from these ARs, the pre-eruptive magnetic structure identifies an inverse-S sigmoid consistent with the coronal plasma tracers in EUV observations. In all the eruption cases, the quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs) of Large Q values are continuously enclosing core field bipolar regions in w…
We present a detailed study of a confined circular flare dynamics associated with 3 UV late phases in order to understand more precisely which topological elements are present and how they constrain the dynamics of the flare. We perform a non-linear force free field extrapolation of the confined flare observed with the HMI and AIA instruments onboard SDO. From the 3D magnetic field we compute the squashing factor and we analyse its distribution. Conjointly, we analyse the AIA EUV light curves and images in order to identify the post-flare loops, their temporal and thermal evolution. By combini…
Chromospheric flare ribbons observed in H-alpha appear well-organized when first examined: ribbons impulsively brighten, morphologically evolve, and exponentially decay back to pre-flare levels. Upon closer inspection of H-alpha flares, there is often a significant number of compact areas brightening in concert with the flare eruption but are spatially separated from the evolving flare ribbon. One class of these brightenings is known as sequential chromospheric brightenings (SCBs). SCBs are often observed in the intimidate vicinity of erupting flares and are associated with coronal mass ejecti…
In this article, we measure the mean magnetic shear from the morphological evolution of flare ribbons, and examine the evolution of flare thermal and non-thermal X-ray emissions during the progress of flare reconnection. We analyze three eruptive flares and three confined flares ranging from GOES class C8.0 to M7.0. They exhibit well-defined two ribbons along the magnetic polarity inversion line (PIL), and have been observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly and the Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager from the onset of the flare throughout the impulsive phase. The analysis confirms…
With the observations of the Solar Dynamics Observatory, we present the slipping magnetic reconnections with multiple flare ribbons (FRs) during an X1.2 eruptive flare on 2014 January 7. A center negative polarity was surrounded by several positive ones, and there appeared three FRs. The three FRs showed apparent slipping motions, and hook structures formed at their ends. Due to the moving footpoints of the erupting structures, one tight semi-circular hook disappeared after the slippage along its inner and outer edge, and coronal dimmings formed within the hook. The east hook also faded as a r…
We studied a circular-ribbon flare, SOL2014-12-17T04:51, with emphasis on its thermal evolution as determined by the Differential Emission Measure (DEM) inversion analysis of the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) images of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Both temperature and emission measure start to rise much earlier than the flare, along with an eruption and formation of a hot halo over the fan structure. In the main flare phase, another set of ribbons forms inside the circular ribbon, and expands as expected for ribbons at the footpoin…
The chapter "Solar Active Region Electric Currents Before and During Eruptive Flares" is a discussion on electric currents in the pre-eruption state and in the course of eruptions of solar magnetic structures, using information from solar observations, nonlinear force-free field extrapolations relying on these observations, and three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models. The discussion addresses the issue of neutralized vs. non-neutralized currents in active regions and concludes that MHD models are able to explain non-neutralized currents in active regions by the existence of strong m…
Researchers have reported (i) correlations of coronal mass ejection (CME) speeds and the total photospheric magnetic flux swept out by flare ribbons in flare-associated eruptive events, and, separately, (ii) correlations of CME speeds and more rapid decay, with height, of magnetic fields in potential coronal models above eruption sites. Here, we compare the roles of both ribbon fluxes and the decay rates of overlying fields in a set of 16 eruptive events. We confirm previous results that higher CME speeds are associated with both larger ribbon fluxes and more rapidly decaying overlying fields.…
We studied the magnetic topology of active region 12158 on 2014 September 10 and compared it with the observations before and early in the flare which begins at 17:21 UT (SOL2014-09-10T17:45:00). Our results show that the sigmoidal structure and flare ribbons of this active region observed by SDO/AIA can be well reproduced from a Grad-Rubin non linear force free field extrapolation method. Various inverse-S and -J shaped magnetic field lines, that surround a coronal flux rope, coincide with the sigmoid as observed in different extreme ultraviolet wavelengths, including its multi-threaded curve…
In this study, we investigated the energy partition of four confined circular-ribbon flares (CRFs) near the solar disk center, which are observed simultaneously by SDO, GOES, and RHESSI. We calculated different energy components, including the radiative outputs in 1$-$8, 1$-$70, and 70$-$370 Å, total radiative loss, peak thermal energy derived from GOES and RHESSI, nonthermal energy in flare-accelerated electrons, and magnetic free energy before flares. It is found that the energy components increase systematically with the flare class, indicating that more energies are involved in larger flar…
Analysis of the observations of the SOL2001-12-26 event related to ground-level-event GLE63, including microwave spectra and images from NoRH at 17 and 34 GHz, SSRT at 5.7 GHz, and TRACE in 1600 Å has led to the following results. A flare ribbon overlapped with the sunspot umbra, which is typical of large particle events. Atypical were: i) long duration of the flare of more than one hour; ii) moderate intensity of a microwave burst, about $10^4$ sfu; iii) low peak frequency of the gyrosynchrotron spectrum, around 6 GHz; and its insensitivity to the flux increase by more than one order of magni…
Recently solar flares exhibiting a double J-shaped ribbons in the lower solar atmosphere have been paid increasing attention in the context of extending the two-dimensional standard flare model to three dimensions, as motivated by the spatial correlation between photospheric current channels and flare ribbons. Here we study the electric currents through the photospheric area swept by flare ribbons (termed synthesized ribbon area or SRA), with a sample of 71 two-ribbon flares, of which 36 are J-shaped. Electric currents flowing through one ribbon are highly correlated with those through the oth…
Two-ribbon brightenings are one of the most remarkable characteristics of an eruptive solar flare and are often used for predicting the occurrence of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Nevertheless, it was called in question recently whether all two-ribbon flares are eruptive. In this paper, we investigate a two ribbon-like white-light (WL) flare that is associated with a failed magnetic flux rope (MFR) eruption on 2015 January 13, which has no accompanying CME in the WL coronagraph. Observations by \textit{Optical and Near-infrared Solar Eruption Tracer} and \textit{Solar Dynamics Observatory} re…
We study the energy release process of a set of 51 flares (32 confined, 19 eruptive) ranging from GOES class B3 to X17. We use H$α$ filtergrams from Kanzelhöhe Observatory together with SDO HMI and SOHO MDI magnetograms to derive magnetic reconnection fluxes and rates. The flare reconnection flux is strongly correlated with the peak of the GOES 1-8 Å soft X-ray flux (c=0.92, in log-log space), both for confined and eruptive flares. Confined flares of a certain GOES class exhibit smaller ribbon areas but larger magnetic flux densities in the flare ribbons (by a factor of 2). In the largest even…
The standard model for eruptive flares has in the past few years been extended to 3D. It predicts typical J-shaped photospheric footprints of the coronal current layer, forming at similar locations as the Quasi-Separatrix Layers (QSLs). Such a morphology is also found for flare ribbons observed in the EUV band, as well as in non-linear force-free field (NLFFF) magnetic field extrapolations and models. We study the evolution of the photospheric traces of the current density and flare ribbons, both obtained with the SDO instruments. We investigate the photospheric current evolution during the 6 …
We analyze the imaging observations of an M-class eruptive flare of 2015 November, 4. The pre-eruptive H alpha filament was modelled by the non-linear force free field model, which showed that it consisted of two helical systems. Tether-cutting reconnection involving these two systems led to the formation of a hot sigmoidal loop structure rooted in a small hook that formed at the end of the flare ribbon. Subsequently, the hot loops started to slip away form the small hook until it disappeared. The loops continued slipping and the ribbon elongated itself by several tens of arc seconds. A new an…
Filament eruptions occurring at different places within a relatively short time internal, but with a certain physical causal connection are usually known as sympathetic eruption. Studies on sympathetic eruptions are not uncommon. However, in the existed reports, the causal links between sympathetic eruptions remain rather speculative. In this work, we present detailed observations of a sympathetic filament eruption event, where an identifiable causal link between two eruptive filaments is observed. On 2015 November 15, two filaments (F1 in the north and F2 in the south) were located at the sou…
Solar flare termination shocks have been suggested as one of the viable mechanisms for accelerating electrons and ions to high energies. Observational evidence of such shocks, however, remains rare. Using radio dynamic spectroscopic imaging of a long-duration C1.9 flare obtained by the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), Chen et al. (2015) suggested that a type of coherent radio bursts, referred to as "stochastic spike bursts," were radio signatures of nonthermal electrons interacting with myriad density fluctuations at the front of a flare termination shock. Here we report another stochast…
In this paper, we present a multi-wavelength analysis of two X-class solar eruptive flares of classes X2.2 and X9.3 that occurred in the sigmoidal active region NOAA 12673 on 2017 September 6, by combining observations of Atmospheric Imaging Assembly and Helioseismic Magnetic Imager instruments on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory. On the day of the reported activity, the photospheric structure of the active region displayed a very complex network of $δ$-sunspots that gave rise to the formation of a coronal sigmoid observed in the hot EUV channels. Both X-class flares initiated from the cor…
We report evolution of an atypical X-shaped flare ribbon which provides novel observational evidence of three-dimensional (3D) magnetic reconnection at a separator. The flare occurred on 2014 November 9. High-resolution slit-jaw 1330 A images from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph reveal four chromospheric flare ribbons that converge and form an X-shape. Flare brightening in the upper chromosphere spreads along the ribbons toward the center of the "X" (the X-point), and then spreads outward in a direction more perpendicular to the ribbons. These four ribbons are located in a quadrupola…
Magnetic flux ropes (MFRs) are believed to be the core structure in solar eruptions, nevertheless, their formation remains intensely debated. Here we report a rapid buildup process of an MFR-system during a confined X2.2 class flare occurred on 2017 September 6 in NOAA AR 12673, three hours after which the structure erupted to a major coronal mass ejection (CME) accompanied by an X9.3 class flare. For the X2.2 flare, we do not find EUV dimmings, separation of its flare ribbons, or clear CME signatures, suggesting a confined flare. For the X9.3 flare, large-scale dimmings, separation of its fla…
Electric currents play a critical role in the triggering of solar flares and their evolution. The aim of the present paper is to test whether the surface electric current has a surface or subsurface fixed source as predicts the circuit approach of flare physics, or is the response of the surface magnetic field to the evolution of the coronal magnetic field as the MHD approach proposes. Out of all 19 X-class flares as observed by SDO from 2011 to 2016 near the disk center, we analyzed the only 9 eruptive flares for which clear ribbon-hooks were identifiable. Flare ribbons with hooks are conside…
Arcades of flare loops form as a consequence of magnetic reconnection powering solar flares and eruptions. We analyse the morphology and evolution of flare arcades that formed during five well-known eruptive flares. We show that the arcades have a common saddle-like shape. The saddles occur despite the fact that the flares were of different classes (C to X), occurred in different magnetic environments, and were observed in various projections. The saddles are related to the presence of longer, relatively-higher, and inclined flare loops, consistently observed at the ends of the arcades, which …
The nature of three-dimensional reconnection when a twisted flux tube erupts during an eruptive flare or coronal mass ejection is considered. The reconnection has two phases: first of all, 3D "zipper reconnection" propagates along the initial coronal arcade, parallel to the polarity inversion line (PIL), then subsequent quasi-2D "main phase reconnection" in the low corona around a flux rope during its eruption produces coronal loops and chromospheric ribbons that propagate away from the PIL in a direction normal to it. One scenario starts with a sheared arcade: the zipper reconnection creates …
We present a multi-wavelength investigation of a C-class flaring activity that occurred in the active region NOAA 12734 on 8 March 2019. The investigation utilises data from AIA and HMI on board the SDO and the Udaipur-CALLISTO solar radio spectrograph of the Physical Research Laboratory. This low intensity C1.3 event is characterised by typical features of a long duration event (LDE), viz. extended flare arcade, large-scale two-ribbon structures and twin coronal dimmings. The eruptive event occurred in a coronal sigmoid and displayed two distinct stages of energy release, manifested in terms …
We analyze a confined multiple-ribbon M2.1 flare (SOL2015-01-29T11:42) that originated from a fan-spine coronal magnetic field configuration, within active region NOAA 12268. The observed ribbons form in two steps. First, two primary ribbons form at the main flare site, followed by the formation of secondary ribbons at remote locations. We observe a number of plasma flows at extreme-ultraviolet temperatures during the early phase of the flare (as early as 15 min before the onset) propagating towards the formation site of the secondary ribbons. The secondary ribbon formation is co-temporal with…
Circular-ribbon flares (CFs) are a special type of solar flares owing to their particular magnetic topology. In this paper, we conducted a comprehensive statistical analysis of 134 CFs from 2011 September to 2017 June, including four B-class, 82 C-class, 40 M-class, and eight X-class flares, respectively. The flares were observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft. The physical properties of CFs are derived, including the location, area ($A_{CF}$), equivalent radius ($r_{CF}$) assuming a semi-spherical fan dome, lifetime ($τ_{CF}$…
Failed filament eruptions are solar eruptions that are not associated with coronal mass ejections. In a failed filament eruption, the filament materials usually show some ascending and falling motions as well as generate bright EUV emissions. Here we report a failed filament eruption that occurred in a quiet-Sun region observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory. In this event, the filament spreads out but gets confined by the surrounding magnetic field. When interacting with the ambient magnetic field, the filament material brightens up and flows along…
We analyze a unique event with an M1.8 confined circular-ribbon flare on 2016 February 13, with successive formations of two circular ribbons at the same location. The flare had two distinct phases of UV and EUV emissions with an interval of about 270 s, of which the second peak was energetically more important. The first episode was accompanied by the eruption of a mini-filament and the fast elongation motion of a thin circular ribbon (CR1) along the counterclockwise direction at a speed of about 220 km/s. Two elongated spine-related ribbons were also observed, with the inner ribbon co-tempor…
Rapid increase of horizontal magnetic field ($B_h$) around the flaring polarity inversion line is the most prominent photospheric field change during flares. It is considered to be caused by the contraction of flare loops, the details behind which is still not fully understood. Here we investigate the $B_h$-increase in 35 major flares using HMI high-cadence vector magnetograms. We find that $B_h$-increase is always accompanied by the increase of field inclination. It usually initiates near the flare ribbons, showing step-like change in between the ribbons. In particular, its evolution in early…
