Temperature and density measurements near supra-arcade current sheets suggest that plasma on unreconnected field lines may experience some degree of "pre-heating" and "pre-densification" prior to reconnection. Models of patchy reconnection allow for heating and acceleration of plasma along reconnected field lines but do not offer a mechanism for transport of thermal energy across field lines. Here, we present a model in which a reconnected flux tube retracts, deforming the surrounding layer of unreconnected field. The deformation creates constrictions that act as peristaltic pumps, driving plasma flow along affected field lines. Under certain circumstances, these flows lead to shocks that can extend far out into the unreconnected field, altering the plasma properties in the affected region. These findings have direct implications for observations in the solar corona, particularly in regard to such phenomena as high temperatures near current sheets in eruptive solar flares and wakes seen in the form of descending regions of density depletion or supra-arcade downflows.
The topology of magnetic fields near the open-closed flux boundary in the Sun's corona is an important influencing factor in the process of interchange reconnection, whereby plasma is exchanged between open and closed flux domains. Maps of the magnetic squashing factor at the radial outer boundary in coronal field models reveal the presence of the so-called 'S-web', and suggest that interchange reconnection could potentially deposit closed coronal material into high-latitude regions far from the heliospheric current sheet. Here we demonstrate that certain features of the S-web reveal the underlying topological structure of the magnetic field. Specifically, in order for the arcing bands of highly squashed magnetic flux of the S-web to terminate or intersect away from the helmet streamer apex, there must be a null spine line that maps a finite segment of the photospheric open-closed boundary up to a singular point in the open flux domain. We propose that this association between null spine lines and arc termination points may be used to identify locations in the heliosphere that are preferential for the appearance of solar energetic particles or slow solar wind plasma with certain characteristics.
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