Observing the release of twist by magnetic reconnection in a solar filament eruption

Xue, Zhike; Yan, Xiaoli; Cheng, X.; Yang, Liheng; Su, Yingna; Kliem, B.; Zhang, Jun; Liu, Zhong; Bi, Yong; Xiang, Yanjuan; Yang, Kai; Zhao, Li

doi:10.1038/ncomms11837

Cited by 149 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 59 publications

(76 reference statements)

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“…We outline the path of the inflow and repeated 10 times to get the uncertainty error bars. The inflow velocities evaluated in the letter are much larger than that of the inflows observed in some previous literatures (e.g., several km s −1 , Yokoyama et al 2001;Sun et al 2015;Xue et al 2016) and a little smaller than the inflows from 150 to 690 km s −1 reported by Savage et al (2012a). Comparing the event in this letter and that studied by Savage et al (2012a) with other events, we found that the inflow in the events with an erupting flux rope is distinctly larger than that without an erupting flux rope.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 40%

“…Besides, a clear reconnection inflow and X-point were found in a limb flare on 1999 March 18 (Yokoyama, Yamamot & Fukao 2001). With the development of the observational technology, more and more features of magnetic reconnection were reported (Savage et al 2010;Liu et al 2010;Zhang et al 2012;Sun et al 2012;Savage et al 2012aSavage et al , 2012bSu et al 2013;Zhang et al 2013;Deng et al 2013;Dudík et al 2014;Tian et al 2014;Yang, Zhang & Xiang 2015;Sun et al 2015;Xue et al 2016;Li et al 2016;Zhu et al 2016;Li et al 2017;Shen et al 2017). Furthermore, many simulations also show evidence that magnetic reconnection plays an important role in solar eruptions (Antiochos et al 1999, Chen & Shibata 2000, Amari et al 2003, Aulanier et al 2010, Janvier et al 2013Ni et al 2016Ni et al , 2017Mei et al 2017;Jiang et al 2016Jiang et al , 2017.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

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Simultaneous Observation of a Flux Rope Eruption and Magnetic Reconnection during an X-class Solar Flare

Yan

Yang

Xue

et al. 2018

ApJL

126

103

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In this letter, we present a spectacular eruptive flare (X8.2) associated with a coronal mass ejection (CME) on 2017 September 10 at the west limb of the Sun. A flux rope eruption is followed by the inflow, the formation of a current sheet and a cusp structure, which were simultaneously observed during the occurrence of this flare. The hierarchical layers of the cusp-shaped structure are well observed in 131Å observation. The scenario that can be created from these observations is very consistent with the predictions of some eruptive models. Except for the characteristics mentioned above in the process of the flare predicted by classical eruption models, the current sheet separating into several small current sheets is also observed at the final stage of the flux rope eruption. The quantitative calculation of the velocities and accelerations of the inflow, hot cusp structure, and post-flare loops is presented. The width of the current sheet is estimated to be about 3 × 10 3 km. These observations are very useful to understand the process of solar eruptions.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 40%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Simultaneous Observation of a Flux Rope Eruption and Magnetic Reconnection during an X-class Solar Flare

Yan

Yang

Xue

et al. 2018

ApJL

126

103

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Dynamical events, such as chromospheric jets (e.g., Liu et al 2009;Morton 2012;Bharti et al 2013;Tian et al 2014), Ellerman Bombs (e.g., Fang et al 2006;Hong et al 2014;Nelson et al 2015) and type II white light flares (e.g., Ding et al 1994Ding et al , 1999, are all related to magnetic reconnection in the partially ionized low atmosphere. Improvements in the angular resolution of solar telescopes have allowed many small scale magnetic reconnection events in the low solar atmosphere to be observed (e.g., Yang et al 2015;Xue et al 2016;Zhao et al 2017). The high temperature compact bright points which have UV counterparts that are frequently observed with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) (Peter et al 2014;Vissers et al 2015;Grubecka et al 2016;Tian et al 2016) are known as IRIS bombs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Magnetic Reconnection in Strongly Magnetized Regions of the Low Solar Chromosphere

Lukin

Murphy

et al. 2018

ApJ

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Magnetic reconnection in strongly magnetized regions around the temperature minimum region of the low solar atmosphere is studied by employing MHD-based simulations of a partially ionized plasma within a reactive 2.5D multi-fluid model. It is shown that in the absence of magnetic nulls in a low β plasma the ionized and neutral fluid flows are well-coupled throughout the reconnection region. However, non-equilibrium ionization-recombination dynamics play a critical role in determining the structure of the reconnection region, lead to much lower temperature increases and a faster magnetic reconnection rate as compared to simulations that assume plasma to be in ionization-recombination equilibrium. The rate of ionization of the neutral component of the plasma is always faster than recombination within the current sheet region even when the initial plasma β is as high as β 0 = 1.46. When the reconnecting magnetic field is in excess of a kilogauss and the plasma β is lower than 0.0145, the initially weakly ionized plasmas can become fully ionized within the reconnection region and the current sheet can be strongly heated to above 2.5 × 10 4 K, even as most of the collisionally dissipated magnetic energy is radiated away. The Hall effect increases the reconnection rate slightly, but in the absence of magnetic nulls it does not result in significant asymmetries or change the characteristics of the reconnection current sheet down to meter scales.

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“…The eruption process of this case was studied by Xue et al (2016), who suggested a internal reconnection occurring between the ambient fibrils and the filament itself to relax magnetic tension during the eruption. From a different perspective, here we focus on the whole process, especially the role of EMR, before the eruption.…”

Section: Observations and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is reasonable that the west part of the filament erupted first according to the model of torus instability. When the eruption began, the untwisting motion of the filament was explained by Xue et al (2016) as a reconnection occurring between the ambient fibrils and the filament to relax magnetic tension.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Study of External Magnetic Reconnection that Triggers a Solar Eruption

Zhou

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2017

ApJL

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External magnetic reconnection (EMR) is suggested to play an essential role in triggering a solar eruption, but is rarely directly observed. Here, we report on a filament eruption on 2014 October 3 that apparently involves the process of an early EMR. A total of 1.7×10 20 Mx flux was first canceled along the filament-related polarity inversion line over 12 hr, and then the filament axis started to brighten in extreme ultraviolet (EUV). An impulsive EUV brightening began 30 minutes later, and we attribute this to EMR, as it is located at the center of a bidirectional outflow with a velocity of 60-75 km s −1 along large-scale magnetic loops from active regions NOAA 12178 and 12179, respectively, and over the filament mentioned above. Following the EMR, the filament was activated; then, partial eruption occurred 6 minutes later in the west, in which the decay index above the magnetic flux rope (MFR) reached the critical value of 1.5. The observations are interpreted in terms of underlying magnetic flux cancelation leading to the buildup and eventual formation of the MFR with a filament embedded in it, and the MFR is elevated later. The activated MFR rises and pushes the overlying sheared field and forms a current sheet causing the EMR. The EMR in turn weakens the constraining effect of the overlying field, leading to the arising of the MFR, and subsequently erupting due to torus instability.

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Observing the release of twist by magnetic reconnection in a solar filament eruption

Cited by 149 publications

References 59 publications

Simultaneous Observation of a Flux Rope Eruption and Magnetic Reconnection during an X-class Solar Flare

Simultaneous Observation of a Flux Rope Eruption and Magnetic Reconnection during an X-class Solar Flare

Magnetic Reconnection in Strongly Magnetized Regions of the Low Solar Chromosphere

A Study of External Magnetic Reconnection that Triggers a Solar Eruption

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