For 3D magnetic reconnection to occur there must exist a volume within which the electric field component parallel to the magnetic field is non-zero. In numerical experiments, locations of non-zero parallel electric field indicate sites of 3D magnetic reconnection. If these experiments contain all types of topological feature (null points, separatrix surfaces, spines and separators) then comparing topological features with the reconnection sites reveals that all the reconnection sites are threaded by separators with the local maxima/minima of the integrated parallel electric along fieldlines coinciding with these separators. However, not all separators thread a reconnection site. Furthermore, there are different types of separator. Cluster separators are short arising within an individual weak magnetic field region and have negligible parallel electric field along them so are not associated with much reconnection. Intercluster separators connect a positive null point lying in one weak-field region to a negative null point that lies in a different weak-field region. Intercluster separators often thread enhanced regions of parallel electric field and are long. Since separators form the boundary between 4 globally-significant topologically-distinct domains, they are important sites of reconnection which can results in the global restructuring of the magnetic field. By considering the kinematic bifurcation models in which separators form it is possible to understand the formation of cluster and intercluster separators and explain their key properties.
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in a laboratory, magnetospheric, solar and astrophysical plasma, whereby magnetic energy is converted into heat, bulk kinetic energy and fast particle energy. Its nature in two dimensions is much better understood than in three dimensions (3D), where its character is completely different and has many diverse aspects that are currently being explored. Here we focus on the magnetohydrodynamics of 3D reconnection in the plasma environment of the solar system, especially solar flares. The theory of reconnection at null points, separators and quasi-sep…
Spectroscopic Observations of Magnetic Reconnection and Chromospheric Evaporation in an X-shaped Solar Flare
我们提出了在一个非典型的X形耀斑（SOL 2014 -11- 09 T15：32）期间，由界面区域成像光谱仪（IRIS）观测到的不同位置的不同紫外光谱特性的观测结果。在这个耀斑中，出现了四条色球带，并会聚在一个X点，那里有一个分离器被锚定。在X点上方，两组非共面冠状环横向接近并在分离器处重新连接。IRIS狭缝位于X点附近，穿过一些扩口带和环。在分离器附近，Si IV 1402.77 A线表现出明显加宽的线翼，延伸到200 km/s，但线芯没有移动。这些光谱特征表明可能与分离器重连有关的双向流动的存在。而在耀斑带中，热的Fe XXI 1354.08 A谱线出现蓝移，冷的Si IV 1402.77 A，C II 1335.71 A和Mg II 2803.52 A谱线出现明显的红移，红移速度可达80 km/s，这与色球蒸发/凝结的情况相一致。
Three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamic simulations are carried out to explore magnetic reconnections in the presence of 3D magnetic nulls and quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs). The initial magnetic fields are created by superposing uniform vertical magnetic fields of two different magnitudes on a linear force-free field. The interior of the numerical box contains two 3D nulls with separatrix domes separated by a quasi-separator (or hyperbolic flux tube) with QSLs. In the first simulation, the uniform vertical field is so large that the nulls are located at low heights and the domes are separa…
Context. Recent observations have shown that magnetic flux cancellation occurs at the photosphere more frequently than previously thought. Aims. In order to understand the energy release by reconnection driven by flux cancellation, we previously studied a simple model of two cancelling polarities of equal flux. Here, we further develop our analysis to achieve a more general setup where the two cancelling polarities have unequal magnetic fluxes and where many new features are revealed. Methods. We carried out an analytical study of the cancellation of two magnetic fragments of unequal and oppos…
One of the major discoveries of Hinode's Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) is the presence of upflows at the edges of active regions. As active regions are magnetically connected to the large-scale field of the corona, these upflows are a likely contributor to the global mass cycle in the corona. Here we examine the driving mechanism(s) of the very strong upflows with velocities in excess of 70 km/s, known as blue-wing asymmetries, observed during the eruption of a flux rope in AR 10977 (eruptive flare SOL2007-12-07T04:50). We use Hinode/EIS spectroscopic observations combined wit…
Electromagnetic Energy Conversion in Downstream Fronts from 3D Kinetic Reconnection
在\citet{vapirev2013formation}先前报道的动力学重联的3D模拟中，对电磁能量方程进行了逐项分析。的演变提出了通常的二维拓扑结构所造成的初始扰动独立的第三维。然而，下游的重联网站，喷射等离子体遇到尚未扰动的预先存在的等离子体，下游前（DF）的形成和不稳定的强密度梯度和不利的局部加速场。等离子体和场之间的能量交换在不稳定性处最强烈，达到几个$pW/m^3$，在负载（能量从场到粒子）和发生器（能量从粒子到场）区域之间交替。相反，能量交换纯粹是重连位点本身处的负载的能量交换，该重连位点本身在围绕x线聚焦并且沿着分界线表面伸长的区域中。坡印亭通量产生在所有的能量交换区域和旅行远离重联网站传输的能量信号的顺序约为$\mathbf S \approx 10^{-3} W/m^2$。
We take a pragmatic definition of reconnection to find locations where a reconnection electric field causes a ExB drift that carries two components of the magnetic field towards their elimination. With this in mind as our target, we observe that such locations can be found using a new indicator: the velocity of the Lorentz transformation that eliminates two components of the local magnetic field. Serendipitously, the indicator naturally becomes subluminal in the close proximity of a point where two components of the magnetic field vanish and it is hard zero at the vanishing location. Everywher…
Interchange reconnection is thought to play an important role in determining the dynamics and material composition of the slow solar wind that originates from near coronal hole boundaries. To explore the implications of this process we simulate the dynamic evolution of a solar wind stream along a newly-opened magnetic flux tube. The initial condition is composed of a piecewise continuous dynamic equilibrium in which the regions above and below the reconnection site are extracted from steady-state solutions along open and closed field lines. The initial discontinuity at the reconnection site is…
Catalog of fine-structured electron velocity distribution functions $-$ Part 1: Antiparallel magnetic-field reconnection (Geospace Environmental Modeling case)
We propose a new ``helicity-pumping'' method for energizing coronal equilibria that contain a magnetic flux rope (MFR) toward an eruption. We achieve this in a sequence of magnetohydrodynamics relaxations of small line-tied pulses of magnetic helicity, each of which is simulated by a suitable rescaling of the current-carrying part of the field. The whole procedure is ``magnetogram-matching'' because it involves no changes to the normal component of the field at the photospheric boundary. The method is illustrated by applying it to an observed force-free configuration whose MFR is modeled with …
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…
On the Sun, Doppler shifts of bidirectional outflows from the magnetic-reconnection site have been found only in confined regions through spectroscopic observations. Without spatially resolved spectroscopic observations across an extended region, the distribution of reconnection and its outflows in the solar atmosphere cannot be made clear. Magnetic reconnection is thought to cause the splitting of filament structures, but unambiguous evidence has been elusive. Here we report spectroscopic and imaging analysis of a magnetic-reconnection event on the Sun, using high-resolution data from the Int…
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…
Magnetic reconnection plays a crucial role in powering solar flares, production of energetic particles, and plasma heating. However, where the magnetic reconnections occur, how and where the released magnetic energy is transported, and how it is converted to other forms remain unclear. Here we report recurring bi-directional plasma outflows located within a large-scale plasma sheet observed in extreme ultraviolet emission and scattered white light during the post-impulsive gradual phase of the X8.2 solar flare on 2017 September 10. Each of the bi-directional outflows originates in the plasma s…
The rate of magnetic reconnection is of the utmost importance in a variety of processes because it controls, for example, the rate energy is released in solar flares, the speed of the Dungey convection cycle in Earth's magnetosphere, and the energy release rate in harmful geomagnetic substorms. It is known from numerical simulations and satellite observations that the rate is approximately 0.1 in normalized units, but despite years of effort, a full theoretical prediction has not been obtained. Here, we present a first-principles theory for the reconnection rate in non-relativistic electron-io…
Plasmoid Ejections and Loop Contractions in an Eruptive M7.7 Solar Flare: Evidence of Particle Acceleration and Heating in Magnetic Reconnection Outflows
Hybrid-Vlasov-Maxwell simulations of magnetized plasma turbulence including non-linear electron-inertia effects in a generalized Ohm's law are presented. When fluctuation energy is injected on scales sufficiently close to ion-kinetic scales, the ions efficiently become de-magnetized and electron-scale current sheets largely dominate the distribution of the emerging current structures, in contrast to the usual picture, where a full hierarchy of structure sizes is generally observed. These current sheets are shown to be the sites of electron-only reconnection (e-rec), in which the usual electron…
Particle acceleration during magnetic reconnection is a long-standing topic in space, solar and astrophysical plasmas. Recent 3D particle-in-cell simulations of magnetic reconnection show that particles can leave flux ropes due to 3D field-line chaos, allowing particles to access additional acceleration sites, gain more energy through Fermi acceleration, and develop a power-law energy distribution. This 3D effect does not exist in traditional 2D simulations, where particles are artificially confined to magnetic islands due to their restricted motions across field lines. Full 3D simulations, ho…
