Fast plasmoid-mediated reconnection in a solar flare

Xiaoli Yan (), Zhike Xue, Chaowei Jiang (), E. R. Priest, Bernhard Kliem, Liheng Yang, Jincheng Wang, Defang Kong, Yongliang Song, Xueshang Feng and Zhong Liu
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Xiaoli Yan: Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhike Xue: Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chaowei Jiang: Institute of Space Science and Applied Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology
E. R. Priest: School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews
Bernhard Kliem: Institute of Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam
Liheng Yang: Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jincheng Wang: Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Defang Kong: Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yongliang Song: Key Laboratory of Solar Activity, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xueshang Feng: State Key Laboratory of Space Weather, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhong Liu: Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Magnetic reconnection is a multi-faceted process of energy conversion in astrophysical, space and laboratory plasmas that operates at microscopic scales but has macroscopic drivers and consequences. Solar flares present a key laboratory for its study, leaving imprints of the microscopic physics in radiation spectra and allowing the macroscopic evolution to be imaged, yet a full observational characterization remains elusive. Here we combine high resolution imaging and spectral observations of a confined solar flare at multiple wavelengths with data-constrained magnetohydrodynamic modeling to study the dynamics of the flare plasma from the current sheet to the plasmoid scale. The analysis suggests that the flare resulted from the interaction of a twisted magnetic flux rope surrounding a filament with nearby magnetic loops whose feet are anchored in chromospheric fibrils. Bright cusp-shaped structures represent the region around a reconnecting separator or quasi-separator (hyperbolic flux tube). The fast reconnection, which is relevant for other astrophysical environments, revealed plasmoids in the current sheet and separatrices and associated unresolved turbulent motions.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28269-w

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