UV bursts and Ellerman bombs are transient brightenings observed in the low solar atmospheres of emerging flux regions. Observations have discovered the cospatial and cotemporal EBs and UV bursts, and their formation mechanisms are still not clear. The multi-thermal components with a large temperature span in these events challenge our understanding of magnetic reconnection and heating mechanisms in the low solar atmosphere. We have studied magnetic reconnection between the emerging and background magnetic fields. The initial plasma parameters are based on the C7 atmosphere model. After the current sheet with dense photosphere plasma is emerged to $0.5$ Mm above the solar surface, plasmoid instability appears. The plasmoids collide and coalesce with each other, which makes the plasmas with different densities and temperatures mixed up in the turbulent reconnection region. Therefore, the hot plasmas corresponding to the UV emissions and colder plasmas corresponding to the emissions from other wavelenghts can move together and occur at about the same height. In the meantime, the hot turbulent structures basically concentrate above $0.4$ Mm, whereas the cool plasmas extend to much lower heights to the bottom of the current sheet. These phenomena are consistent with the observations of Chen et al. 2019, ApJL. The synthesized Si IV line profiles are similar to the observed one in UV bursts, the enhanced wing of the line profiles can extend to about $100$ km s$^{-1}$. The differences are significant among the numerical results with different resolutions, which indicate that the realistic magnetic diffusivity is crucial to reveal the fine structures and realistic plasmas heating in these reconnection events. Our results also show that the reconnection heating contributed by ambipolar diffusion in the low chromosphere around the temperature minimum region is not efficient.
Magnetic reconnection is the most likely mechanism responsible for the high temperature events that are observed in strongly magnetized locations around the temperature minimum in the low solar chromosphere. This work improves upon our previous work ["Magnetic Reconnection in Strongly Magnetized Regions of the Low Solar Chromosphere", The Astrophysical Journal 852, 95 (2018) ] by using a more realistic radiative cooling model computed from the OPACITY project and the CHIANTI database. We find that the rate of ionization of the neutral component of the plasma is still faster than recombination …
It has been proposed that particles bouncing between magnetized flows converging in a reconnection region can be accelerated by the first order Fermi mechanism. Analytical considerations of this mechanism have shown that the spectral index of accelerated particles is related to the total plasma compression within the reconnection region similarly to the case of diffusive shock acceleration mechanism. As a first step to investigate the efficiency of Fermi acceleration in reconnection regions in producing hard energy spectra of particles in the solar corona, we explore the degree of plasma compr…
We propose a reconnection-condensation model in which topological change in a coronal magnetic field via reconnection triggers radiative condensation, thereby resulting in prominence formation. Previous observational studies have suggested that reconnection at a polarity inversion line of a coronal arcade field creates a flux rope that can sustain a prominence; however, they did not explain the origin of cool dense plasmas of prominences. Using three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations including anisotropic nonlinear thermal conduction and optically thin radiative cooling, we demonstra…
We follow up on the Sterling et al (2015) discovery that nearly all polar coronal X-ray jets are made by an explosive eruption of closed magnetic field carrying a miniature filament in its core. In the same X-ray and EUV movies used by Sterling et al (2015), we examine the onset and growth of the driving magnetic explosion in 15 of the 20 jets that they studied. We find evidence that: (1) in a large majority of polar X-ray jets, the runaway internal/tether-cutting reconnection under the erupting minifilament flux rope starts after both the minifilaments rise and the spire-producing external/br…
We analyze the characteristics of a quiescent polar prominence using the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Initially, small-scale barb-like structures are evident on the solar disk, which firstly grow vertically and thereafter move towards the south-west limb. Later, a spine connects these barbs and we observe apparent rotating motions in the upper part of the prominence. These apparent rotating motions might play an important role for the evolution and growth of the filament by transferring cool plasma and magnetic twist. The large-scale vortex m…
We present the observations of a blowout jet that experienced two distinct ejection stages. The first stage started from the emergence of a small positive magnetic polarity, which cancelled with the nearby negative magnetic field and caused the rising of a mini-filament and its confining loops. This further resulted in a small jet due to the magnetic reconnection between the rising confining loops and the overlying open field. The second ejection stage was mainly due to the successive removal of the confining field by the reconnection. Thus that the filament erupted and the erupting cool filam…
We present the first observation of a solar filament formed by magnetic reconnection and associated chromospheric evaporation and subsequent coronal condensation. Driven by shearing motion during flux emergence, a sequential tether-cutting reconnection processes occurred and resulted in an M1.3 confined flare accompany with the formation of a sigmoid structure. It is found that the flare had a conjugate compact footpoint brightenings, which correspond to the footpoints of the sigmoid. Furthermore, observational evidence of explosive evaporation is well diagnosed at the conjugate footpoint brig…
Based on archive photographic photometry and recent CCD photometric data for red novae V4332 Sgr and V838 Mon, we established their stellar composition, exploded components, and the nature of explosions. Low temperature in the outburst maximum is due to quasi-adiabatic expansion of a massive stellar envelope after the central energy surge preceded the outburst.
Magnetic-field reconnection is believed to play a fundamental role in magnetized plasma systems throughout the Universe1, including planetary magnetospheres, magnetars and accretion disks around black holes. This letter present 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…
Magnetic reconnection is a well-accepted part of the theory of solar eruptive events, though the evidence is still circumstantial. Intrinsic to the reconnection picture of a solar eruptive event, particularly in the standard model for two-ribbon flares ("CSHKP" model), are an advective flow of magnetized plasma into the reconnection region, expansion of field above the reconnection region as a flux rope erupts, retraction of heated post-reconnection loops, and downflows of cooling plasma along those loops. We report on a unique set of SDO/AIA imaging and Hinode/EIS spectroscopic observations o…
In solar filament formation mechanisms, magnetic reconnection between two sets of sheared arcades forms helical structures of the filament with numerous magnetic dips, and cooling and condensation of plasma trapped inside the helical structures supply mass to the filament. Although each of these processes, namely, magnetic reconnection and coronal condensation have been separately reported, observations that show the whole process of filament formation are rare. In this Letter, we present the formation of a sigmoid via reconnection between two sets of coronal loops, and the subsequent formatio…
Plasmoid-Trapped Condensation Associated with a Transient Thermal-Instability-Like Process in Chromospheric Magnetic Reconnection
Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Science（中国科学院云南天文台）；Yunnan Key Laboratory of Solar Physics and Space Science（云南省太阳物理与空间科学重点实验室）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）；Dr. K. S. Krishnan Geomagnetic Research Laboratory, Indian Institute of Geomagnetism（印度地球磁学研究所K.S.克里希南地磁研究实验室）；School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University（北京大学地球与空间科学学院）；State Key Laboratory of Solar Activity and Space Weather, National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家空间科学中心太阳活动与空间天气国家重点实验室）
Employing Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) multi-wavelength images, we have presented coronal condensations caused by magnetic reconnection between a system of open and closed solar coronal loops. In this Letter, we report the quasi-periodic fast magnetoacoustic waves propagating away from the reconnection region upward across the higher-lying open loops during the reconnection process. On 2012 January 19, reconnection between the higher-lying open loops and lower-lying closed loops took place, and two sets of newly reconnected loops formed. Thereafter, cooling and…
A current sheet, where magnetic energy is liberated through reconnection and is converted to other forms, is thought to play the central role in solar flares, the most intense explosions in the heliosphere. However, the evolution of a current sheet and its subsequent role in flare-related phenomena such as particle acceleration is poorly understood. Here we report observations obtained with NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory that reveal a multiphase evolution of a current sheet in the early stages of a solar flare, from its formation to quasi-stable evolution and disruption. Our observations ha…
Using the multi-instrument observations, we make the first simultaneous imaging and spectral study on the null point of a fan-spine magnetic topology during a solar flare. When magnetic reconnection occurs at the null point, the fan-spine configuration brightens in the (extreme-)ultraviolet channels. In the H$α$ images, the fan-spine structure is partly filled and outlined by the bi-directional material flows ejected from the reconnection site. The extrapolated coronal magnetic field confirms the existence of the fan-spine topology. Before and after the flare peak, the total velocity of the ou…
We examine the initiation of 10 coronal jet eruptions in quiet regions on the central disk, thereby avoiding near-limb spicule-forest obscuration of the slow-rise onset of the minifilament eruption. From the SDO/AIA 171A 12-second-cadence movie of each eruption, we (1) find and compare the start times of the minifilament's slow rise, the jet-base bright point, the jet-base interior brightening, and the jet spire, and (2) measure the minifilament's speed at the start and end of its slow rise. From (a) these data, (b) prior observations showing that each eruption was triggered by magnetic flux c…
Solar jets are impulsive, collimated plasma ejections that are triggered by magnetic reconnection. They are observed for many decades in various temperatures and wavelengths, therefore their kinematic characteristics, such as velocity and recurrence, have been extensively studied.Nevertheless, the high spatial resolution of the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) launched in 2013 allowed us to make a step forward in the understanding of the relationship between surges and hot jets. In this paper we report on several results of recent studies of jets observed by IRIS. Cool and hot plas…
We perform two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of magnetic reconnection in electron-ion plasmas subject to strong Compton cooling and calculate the X-ray spectra produced by this process. The simulations are performed for trans-relativistic reconnection with magnetization $1\leq σ\leq 3$ (defined as the ratio of magnetic tension to plasma rest-mass density), which is expected in the coronae of accretion disks around black holes. We find that magnetic dissipation proceeds with inefficient energy exchange between the heated ions and the Compton-cooled electrons. As a result, most electr…
Using extreme-ultraviolet images, we recently proposed a new and alternative formation mechanism for coronal rain along magnetically open field lines due to interchange magnetic reconnection. In this paper we report coronal rain at chromospheric and transition region temperatures originating from the coronal condensations facilitated by reconnection between open and closed coronal loops. For this, we employ the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Around 2013 October 19, a coronal rain along curved path…
Magnetic reconnection in the partially ionized solar chromosphere is studied in 2.5-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations including radiative cooling and ambipolar diffusion. A Harris current sheet with and without a guide field is considered. Characteristic values of the parameters in the middle chromosphere imply a high magnetic Reynolds number of $\sim10^{6}\mbox{--}10^7$ in the present simulations. Fast magnetic reconnection then develops as a consequence of the plasmoid instability without the need to invoke anomalous resistivity enhancements. Multiple levels of the instability are …
Magnetic reconnection is believed to be the dominant energy release mechanism in solar flares. The standard flare model predicts both downward and upward outflow plasmas with speeds close to the coronal Alfvén speed. Yet, spectroscopic observations of such outflows, especially the downflows, are extremely rare. With observations of the newly launched Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), we report the detection of greatly redshifted ($\sim$125 km s$^{-1}$ along line of sight) Fe {\sc{xxi}} 1354.08Å emission line with a $\sim$100 km s$^{-1}$ nonthermal width at the reconnection site of …
Inclusion of the inductive electric field, ${\bf E}_{\rm ind}$ due to the temporally changing ${\bf B}$, in magnetic explosions is discussed, with emphasis on solar flares. Several roles played by ${\bf E}_{\rm ind}$ are identified: on a global scale, ${\bf E}_{\rm ind}$ produces the EMF that drives the explosion; the associated ${\bf E}_{\rm ind}\times{\bf B}$ drift is identified with the inflow of magnetic field lines into a reconnection region; the polarization current, associated with $\partial{\bf E}_{\rm ind}/\partial t$, implies a ${\bf J}\times{\bf B}$ force that accelerates this inflo…
Recent observations at high spatial resolution have shown that magnetic flux cancellation occurs on the solar surface much more frequently than previously thought, and so this led Priest et al 2018 to propose magnetic reconnection driven by photospheric flux cancellation as a mechanism for chromospheric and coronal heating. In particular, they estimated analytically the amount of energy released as heat and the height of the energy release during flux cancellation. In the present work, we take the next step in the theory by setting up a two-dimensional resistive MHD simulation of two canceling…
Ultraviolet (UV) bursts and Ellerman bombs (EBs) are small-scale magnetic reconnection events taking place in the highly stratified, low solar atmosphere. It is still not clear whether UV bursts have to be generated at a higher atmospheric layer than EBs or whether both UV bursts and EBs can occur in the low chromosphere. We numerically studied the low $β$ magnetic reconnection process around the solar temperature minimum region (TMR). The time-dependent ionization degrees of hydrogen and helium are included in the MHD code, which lead to a more realistic magnetic diffusion caused by electron-…
We present a quantitative model of the magnetic energy stored and then released through magnetic reconnection for a flare on 26 Feb 2004. This flare, well observed by RHESSI and TRACE, shows evidence of non-thermal electrons only for a brief, early phase. Throughout the main period of energy release there is a super-hot (T>30 MK) plasma emitting thermal bremsstrahlung atop the flare loops. Our model describes the heating and compression of such a source by localized, transient magnetic reconnection. It is a three-dimensional generalization of the Petschek model whereby Alfven-speed retraction …
We present Hubble Space Telescope imaging of a pre-explosion counterpart to SN 2019yvr obtained 2.6 years before its explosion as a type Ib supernova (SN Ib). Aligning to a post-explosion Gemini-S/GSAOI image, we demonstrate that there is a single source consistent with being the SN 2019yvr progenitor system, the second SN Ib progenitor candidate after iPTF13bvn. We also analyzed pre-explosion Spitzer/IRAC imaging, but we do not detect any counterparts at the SN location. SN 2019yvr was highly reddened, and comparing its spectra and photometry to those of other, less extinguished SNe Ib we der…
Employing Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) multi-wavelength images, we report the coronal condensation during the magnetic reconnection (MR) between a system of open and closed coronal loops. Higher-lying magnetically open structures, observed in AIA 171 A images above the solar limb, move downward and interact with the lower-lying closed loops, resulting in the formation of dips in the former. An X-type structure forms at the interface. The interacting loops reconnect and disappear. Two sets of newly-reconnected loops then form and recede from the MR region.…
Reconnection Jets Detected during the Footpoint Drift of a CME Flux Rope: New Signatures of Ongoing 3D Arcade-Flux Rope Reconnection
School of Physics and Astronomy, Yunnan University（云南大学物理与天文学院）；Department of Astronomy, Key Laboratory of Astroparticle Physics of Yunnan Province, Yunnan University（云南大学天文学系、云南省天体粒子物理重点实验室）；Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院上海天文台）
The solar atmosphere was traditionally represented with a simple one-dimensional model. Over the past few decades, this paradigm shifted for the chromosphere and corona that constitute the outer atmosphere, which is now considered a dynamic structured envelope. Recent observations by IRIS (Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph) reveal that it is difficult to determine what is up and down even in the cool 6000-K photosphere just above the solar surface: this region hosts pockets of hot plasma transiently heated to almost 100,000 K. The energy to heat and accelerate the plasma requires a conside…
The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph(IRIS) with its high spatial and temporal resolution brings exceptional plasma diagnostics of solar chromospheric and coronal activity during magnetic reconnection. The aim of this work is to study the fine structure and dynamics of the plasma at a jet base forming a mini flare between two emerging magnetic fluxes (EMFs) observed with IRIS and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) instruments. We proceed to a spatio-temporal analysis of IRIS spectra observed in the spectral ranges of Mg II, C II, and Si IV ions. Doppler velocities from Mg II lines are co…
In flare-relevant current sheets, tearing instability may trigger explosive reconnection and plasmoid formation. We explore how the thermal and tearing modes reinforce each other in the fragmentation of a current sheet in the solar corona through an explosive reconnection process, characterized by the formation of plasmoids which interact and trap condensing plasma. We use a resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of a 2D current layer, incorporating the non-adiabatic effects of optically thin radiative energy loss and background heating using \texttt{MPI-AMRVAC}. Our parametric survey …
We simulate several magnetic reconnection processes in the low solar chromosphere/photosphere, the radiation cooling, heat conduction and ambipolar diffusion are all included. Our numerical results indicate that both the high temperature($ \gtrsim 8\times10^4$~K) and low temperature($\sim 10^4$~K) magnetic reconnection events can happen in the low solar atmosphere ($100\sim600$~km above the solar surface). The plasma $β$ controlled by plasma density and magnetic fields is one important factor to decide how much the plasma can be heated up. The low temperature event is formed in a high $β$ magn…
Coronal rain consists of cool plasma condensations formed in coronal loops as a result of thermal instability. The standard models of coronal rain formation assume that the heating is quasi-steady and localised at the coronal loop footpoints. We present an observation of magnetic reconnection in the corona and the associated impulsive heating triggering formation of coronal rain condensations. We analyse combined SDO/AIA and IRIS observations of a coronal rain event following a reconnection between threads of a low-lying prominence flux rope and surrounding coronal field lines. The reconnectio…
Transient collimated plasma ejections (jets) occur frequently throughout the solar corona, in active regions, quiet Sun, and coronal holes. Although magnetic reconnection is generally agreed to be the mechanism of energy release in jets, the factors that dictate the location and rate of reconnection remain unclear. Our previous studies demonstrated that the magnetic breakout model explains the triggering and evolution of most jets over a wide range of scales, through detailed comparisons between our numerical simulations and high-resolution observations. An alternative explanation, the resisti…
We have studied the effect of time-dependent ionization and recombination processes on magnetic reconnection in the solar corona. Petschek-type steady reconnection, in which model the magnetic energy is mainly converted at the slow-mode shocks, was assumed. We carried out the time-dependent ionization calculation in the magnetic reconnection structure. We only calculated the transient ionization of iron; the other species were assumed to be in ionization equilibrium. The intensity of line emissions at specific wavelengths were also calculated for comparison with {\it Hinode} or other observati…
Using high-resolution images from 1.6 m New Solar Telescope (NST) at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO), we report the direct evidence of chromospheric reconnection at the polarity inversion line (PIL) between two small opposite polarity sunspots. Small jet-like structures (with velocities of ~20-55 km/s) were observed at the reconnection site before the onset of the first M1.0 flare. The slow rise of untwisting jets was followed by the onset of cool plasma inflow (~10 km/s) at the reconnection site, causing the onset of a two-ribbon flare. The reconnection between two sheared J-shaped cool H$α…
In the solar atmosphere, the jets are ubiquitous and found to be at various spatia-temporal scales. They are significant to understand energy and mass transport in the solar atmosphere. Recently, the high-speed transition region jets are reported from the observation. Here we conduct a numerical simulation to investigate the mechanism in their formation. Driven by the supergranular convection motion, the magnetic reconnection between the magnetic loop and the background open flux occurring in the transition region is simulated with a two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics model. The simulation r…
Observations of a Solar Jet Triggered by Reconnection between Super-penumbral Fibrils and a Mini-filament
Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院云南天文台）；Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院紫金山天文台）；East Coast Environmental Research Institute (ESERI), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin（苏丹扎因阿比丁大学东海岸环境研究所）
Context. The recent discovery of much greater magnetic flux cancellation taking place at the photosphere than previously realised has led us in our previous works to suggest magnetic reconnection driven by flux cancellation as the cause of a wide range of dynamic phenomena, including jets of various kinds and solar atmospheric heating. Aims. Previously, the theory considered energy release at a two-dimensional current sheet. Here we develop the theory further by extending it to an axisymmetric current sheet in three dimensions without resorting to complex variable theory. Methods. We analytica…
GOES soft X-ray light curves are used to measure the timing and duration of solar flare emission. The timing and duration of the magnetic reconnection and subsequent energy release which drives solar flares are unknown, though the light curves are presumably related. It is therefore critical to understand the physics which connects the two: how does the time scale of reconnection produce an observed GOES light curve? In this work, we model the formation and expansion of an arcade of loops with a hydrodynamic model, which we then use to synthesize GOES light curves. We calculate the FWHM and th…
Recently, many superflares on solar-type stars were discovered as white-light flares (WLFs). A correlation between the energies (E) and durations (t) of superflares is derived as $t\propto E^{0.39}$, and this can be theoretically explained by magnetic reconnection ($t\propto E^{1/3}$). In this study, we carried out a statistical research on 50 solar WLFs with SDO/HMI to examine the t-E relation. As a result, the t-E relation on solar WLFs ($t\propto E^{0.38}$) is quite similar stellar superflares, but the durations of stellar superflares are much shorter than those extrapolated from solar WLFs…
Coronal condensation and rain are a crucial part of the mass cycle between the corona and chromosphere. In some cases, condensation and subsequent rain originate in the magnetic dips formed during magnetic reconnection. This provides a new and alternative formation mechanism for coronal rain. Until now, only off-limb, rather than on-disk, condensation events during reconnection have been reported. In this paper, employing extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) images of the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) and Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), we investigate the condensations facilitated by…
We present observations of distinct UV spectral properties at different locations during an atypical X-shaped flare (SOL2014-11-09T15:32) observed by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). In this flare, four chromospheric ribbons appear and converge at an X-point where a separator is anchored. Above the X-point, two sets of non-coplanar coronal loops approach laterally and reconnect at the separator. The IRIS slit was located close to the X-point, cutting across some of the flare ribbons and loops. Near the location of the separator, the Si IV 1402.77 A line exhibits significantly …
The fan-spine magnetic topology is believed to be responsible for many curious features in solar explosive events. A spine field line links distinct flux domains, but direct observation of such feature has been rare. Here we report a unique event observed by the Solar Dynamic Observatory where a set of hot coronal loops (over 10 MK) connected to a quasi-circular chromospheric ribbon at one end and a remote brightening at the other. Magnetic field extrapolation suggests these loops are partly tracer of the evolving spine field line. Continuous slipping- and null-point-type reconnections were li…
Using high-resolution observations from the 1.6 m New Solar Telescope (NST) operating at the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO), we report direct evidence of merging/reconnection of cool H$α$ loops in the chromosphere during two homologous flares (B- and C-class) caused by a shear motion at the footpoint of two loops. The reconnection between these loops caused the formation of an unstable flux rope which showed counterclockwise rotation. The flux rope could not reach the height of torus instability and failed to form a coronal mass ejection. The HMI magnetograms revealed rotation of the negati…
Solar macrospicules are beam-like cool plasma ejections of size in-between spicules and coronal jets, which can elucidate potential connections between plasma jetting activity at different scales. With high-resolution observations from the {\em New Vacuum Solar Telescope} and Solar Dynamic Observatory, we investigate the origin of five groups of recurrent active-region macrospicules. Before the launch of each macrospicule, we detect a compact bright patch (BP) at its base where a newly emerging dipole contacts and cancel with the pre-existing ambient field. The spectral diagnosis from the {\em…
We report the intriguing large-scale dynamic phenomena associated with the M6.5 flare~(SOL2015-06-22T18:23) in NOAA active region 12371, observed by RHESSI, Fermi, and the Atmospheric Image Assembly (AIA) and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO). The most interesting feature of this event is a third ribbon (R3) arising in the decay phase, propagating along a dimming channel (seen in EUV passbands) towards a neighboring sunspot. The propagation of R3 occurs in the presence of hard X-ray footpoint emission, and is broadly visible at temperatures from 0.6~MK to over 10~MK …
