Solar coronal heating by magnetic cancellation – II. Disconnected and unequal bipoles

Two-dimensional numerical magnetohydrodynamic simulations of a cancelling magnetic feature (CMF) and the associated coronal X-ray bright point (XBP) are presented. Coronal magnetic reconnection is found to produce the Ohmic heating required for a coronal XBP. During the BP phase where reconnection occurs above the base, about 90–95 per cent of the magnetic flux of the converging magnetic bipole cancels at the base. The last ≈5 to 10 per cent of the base magnetic flux is cancelled when reconnection occurs at the base. Reconnection happens in a time-dependent way in response to the imposed converging footpoint motions. A potential field model gives a good first approximation to the qualitative behaviour of the system, but the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) experiments reveal several quantitative differences: for example, the effects of plasma inertia and a pressure build-up in-between the converging bipole are to delay the onset of coronal reconnection above the base and to lower the maximum X -point height.     

Cancelling magnetic feature and filament activation

We report in this paper the analysis of the evolution of a magnetic fragment observed in NOAA 9445 on 5 May, 2001. This magnetic fragment emerged laterally to a filament which later split into two parts. The bifurcation site coincided with the magnetic fragment location and the part of the filament which split was later destabilized and a flare occurred. The magnetic flux variations in the magnetic fragment and in the surrounding area were analyzed and, considering their trends and other observational signatures (Hα brightenings and associated plasma motions), we could infer that it was a cancelling magnetic feature (CMF).We determined some geometrical and physical parameters of the CMF (area, magnetic flux variation, cancellation speed and flux cancellation rate) using high resolution magnetograms taken by BBSO. We compared the observed parameters of the CMF with the parameters of low‐lying reconnection current sheets given in the model proposed by Litvinenko (1999) and found good agreement between observed and theoretical values. Therefore, we conclude that a low‐lying magnetic reconnection process might be the cause of the filament activation. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

耦合热传导的磁重联的数值模拟

磁重联被认为是太阳耀斑的产生机制,本文数值模拟在日冕中发生在磁重联过程,结果表明耀斑环的表观运动是磁重联的自洽结果;由重联点发出的慢激波对耀斑环的加热有贡献;耀斑环的上升并不意味着重联点的上升。     

Heating of the solar and stellar coronae: a review

Despite great advances in observations and modelling, the problem of solar and stellar heating still remains one of the most challenging problems of space physics. To find a definite answer to what sort of mechanisms act to heat the plasma to a few million degrees requires a collaborative effort of small scales observations, large capacity numerical modelling and complicated theoretical approaches. A unique theory should incorporate aspects such as the generation of energy, its transport and dissipation. Up to now, the first two problems are rather clarified. However, the modality of transfer of magnetic or kinetic energy into heat is a question still awaiting for an answer. In the present paper we review the various popular heating mechanisms put forward in the existing extensive literature. The heating processes are, somewhat arbitrarily, classified as hydrodynamic, magnetohydrodynamic or kinetic based on the characteristics of the model medium. These mechanisms are further divided based on the time scales of the ultimate dissipation involved (i.e. AC and DC heating, turbulent heating). In particular, special attention is paid to discuss shock dissipation, mode coupling, resonant absorption, phase mixing, and, reconnection. Finally, we briefly review the various heating mechanisms proposed to heat other stars. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Evolution of morphological features of CMEs deduced from catastrophe model of solar eruptions

We describe the evolution of morphological features of the magnetic configuration of CME according to the catastrophe model developed previously. For the parameters chosen for the present work, roughly half of the total mass is nominally contained in the initial flux rope, while the remaining plasma is brought by magnetic reconnection from the corona into the current sheet and from there into the CME bubble. The physical attributes of the difference in the observable features between CME bubble and flare loop system were studied. We tentatively identified distinguishable evolutionary features like the outer shell, the expanding bubble and the flux rope with the leading edge, void and core of the 3-component CME structure. The role of magnetic reconnection is discussed as a possible mechanism for the heating of the prominence material during eruptions. Several aspects of this explanation that need improvement are outlined.     

Observational Characteristics of Radio Emission Related to Multi-polar Magnetic Configuration

We present a, large complex radio burst and its associated fast tune structures observed on 2001 April 10 in the frequency range of 0.65-7.6 GHz. The NoRH radio image observation shows very complex radio source structures which include preexisting, newly emerging, submerging/cancelling polarities and a bipolar, a tripolar (a 'bipolar + remote unipolar'), and a quadrupolar structure. This suggests that the radio burst is generated from a very complicated loop structure. According to the spectral and image observations, we assume that the beginning of this flare was caused by a single bipolar loop configuration with a 'Y-type' re-connection structure. A composite of radio continuum and fast time structures is contained in this flare. The various fast radio emission phenomena include normal and reverse drifting type III bursts, and slowly drifting and no-drift structures. The tripolar configurations may form a double-loop with a 'three-legged' structure, which is an important source of the various types of fast time structures. The two-loop reconnection model can lead simultaneously to electron acceleration and corona heating. We have also analyzed the behaviors of coronal magnetic polarities and the emission processes of different types radio emission qualitatively. Interactions of a bipolar or multi-polar loop are consistent with our observational results. Our observations favor the magnetic reconnection configurations of the 'inverted Y-type' (bipolar) and the 'three-legged' structures (tripolar or quadrupolar).     

Observational Features of Large-Scale Structures as Revealed by the Catastrophe Model of Solar Eruptions

Large-scale magnetic structures are the main carrier of major eruptions in the solar atmosphere. These structures are rooted in the photosphere and are driven by the unceas-ing motion of the photospheric material through a series of equilibrium configurations. The motion brings energy into the coronal magnetic field until the system ceases to be in equilib-rium. The catastrophe theory for solar eruptions indicates that loss of mechanical equilibrium constitutes the main trigger mechanism of major eruptions, usually shown up as solar flares, eruptive prominences, and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Magnetic reconnection which takes place at the very beginning of the eruption as a result of plasma instabilities/turbulence inside the current sheet, converts magnetic energy into heating and kinetic energy that are responsible for solar flares, and for accelerating both plasma ejecta (flows and CMEs) and energetic particles. Various manifestations are thus related to one another, and the physics behind these relationships is catastrophe and magnetic reconnection. This work reports on re- cent progress in both theoretical research and observations on eruptive phenomena showing the above manifestations. We start by displaying the properties of large-scale structures in the corona and the related magnetic fields prior to an eruption, and show various morphological features of the disrupting magnetic fields. Then, in the framework of the catastrophe theory, we look into the physics behind those features investigated in a succession of previous works, and discuss the approaches they used.     

Evidence for interchange reconnection between a coronal hole and an adjacent emerging flux region

Coronal holes are regions of dominantly monopolar magnetic field on the Sun where the field is considered to be ‘open’ towards interplanetary space. Magnetic bipoles emerging in proximity to a coronal hole boundary naturally interact with this surrounding open magnetic field. In the case of oppositely aligned polarities between the active region and the coronal hole, we expect interchange reconnection to take place, driven by the coronal expansion of the emerging bipole as well as occasional eruptive events. Using SOHO/EIT and SOHO/MDI data, we present observational evidence of such interchange reconnection by studying AR 10869 which emerged close to a coronal hole. We find closed loops forming between the active region and the coronal hole leading to the retreat of the hole. At the same time, on the far side of the active region, we see dimming of the corona which we interpret as a signature of field line ‘opening’ there, as a consequence of a topological displacement of the ‘open’ field lines of the coronal hole. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Microwave Type III-Like Bursts as Possible Signatures of Magnetic Reconnection

Magnetic reconnection is commonly accepted to play a key role in flare energy release, but only poor information about the main characteristics of this process is available so far. An intrinsic feature of reconnection is plasma density enhancement in current sheets. A unique method to detect this effect is provided by analysis of drifting bursts, whose emission frequency is close to the local Langmuir frequency or its harmonics. With this purpose, we analyze a series of several tens of drifting microwave bursts during the 30 March 2001 flare. The burst drift rates range from −10 to 20 GHz s⁻¹. Using one-dimensional scans recorded with the SSRT interferometer at two different frequencies near 5.7 GHz, we have measured relative positions of burst sources and their velocities along a flare loop revealed from soft X-ray and extreme-ultraviolet images. It is argued that the contribution of the increasing density effect into the observed frequency drift rates is about 6 GHz s⁻¹, which is shown to be consistent with theoretical models of magnetic reconnection with reasonable boundary conditions.     

太阳大气磁精细结构的射电探讨

太阳大气磁场的研究对于太阳大气物理及太阳活动研究是十分重要的。目前探测光球以外的日够以球，过渡区磁场的几乎唯一办法，是在紧密联系其他频说段取得的信息基础上使用射电观测。根据在微波，米波段有关辐射机制和传播过程，介绍了推导磁场讯息的基本射电方法。     

Flux Rope Formation Due to Shearing and Zipper Reconnection

Zipper reconnection has been proposed as a mechanism for creating most of the twist in the flux tubes that are present prior to eruptive flares and coronal mass ejections. We have conducted a first numerical experiment on this new regime of reconnection, where two initially untwisted parallel flux tubes are sheared and reconnected to form a large flux rope. We describe the properties of this experiment, including the linkage of magnetic flux between concentrated flux sources at the base of the simulation, the twist of the newly formed flux rope, and the conversion of mutual magnetic helicity in the sheared pre-reconnection state into the self-helicity of the newly formed flux rope.     

The Coronal Emission of Photospheric Magnetic Fragments

This paper examines the relationship between magnetic dipoles in the photosphere and X-ray bright points (XBPs) in the corona, using an XBP special campaign dataset obtained by the Yohkoh SXT and the NSO/Kitt Peak magnetograph. We find that for the cases where a simple dipole exists in the photosphere, the condition that they are separated by a distance less than the interaction distance defined by Longcope1998 is favorable for an XBP to be observed. For the cases where the magnetic topology is more complicated due to the addition of an extra fragment, we find that the geometry of the magnetic fragments is a major factor that determines if an XBP is observed. XBPs are more likely to be formed above magnetic fragments arranged in such a way that photospheric motions giving rise to reconnection between any two fragments will also give rise to reconnection with the remaining fragment.     

耀斑大尺度电流片的湍流耗散和能谱分析

磁重联在宇宙的许多动力学现象中都是非常核心的过程.磁流体动力学(MHD)数值模拟是研究磁重联过程以及相应物理图像的一种很有效的手段.通过不同的参数组合,来研究MHD数值模拟中磁雷诺数和空间分辨率对磁重联率、数值耗散和能谱分布的影响.对得到的数据进行分析后,发现磁雷诺数对磁重联率和能谱分布有一定的影响.磁雷诺数越大,磁重联过程进入非线性阶段所需的特征时间越短,磁重联率就越早发生跃升.磁雷诺数R_m对耗散开始发挥作用的Kolmogorov微观尺度l_ko有明显影响:R_m越大,l_ko就越小.研究了磁重联过程中包括数值耗散在内的额外耗散对重联过程的影响.结果表明,撕裂模不稳定性开始之前的额外耗散以纯数值耗散为主,撕裂模不稳定性出现之后,额外耗散出现同步跃升,说明不稳定性导致的湍流明显增强了耗散的效果,相当于在局部湍流区引入了超电阻.能谱分析进一步表明,大尺度电流片的l_ko完全可能出现在宏观的MHD尺度上.     

The heating of the solar corona

The heating of the solar corona has been a fundamental astrophysical issue for over sixty years. Over the last decade in particular, space-based solar observatories (Yohkoh, SOHO and TRACE) have revealed the complex and often subtle magnetic-field and plasma interactions throughout the solar atmosphere in unprecedented detail. It is now established that any energy release mechanism is magnetic in origin - the challenge posed is to determine what specific heat input is dominating in a given coronal feature throughout the solar cycle. This review outlines a range of possible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) coronal heating theories, including MHD wave dissipation and MHD reconnection as well as the accumulating observational evidence for quasi-periodic oscillations and small-scale energy bursts occurring in the corona. Also, we describe current attempts to interpret plasma temperature, density and velocity diagnostics in the light of specific localised energy release. The progress in these investigations expected from future solar missions (Solar-B, STEREO, SDO and Solar Orbiter) is also assessed.Received: 6 February 2003, Published online: 14 November 2003 Correspondence to: R. W. Walsh     

Heating the Solar Corona by Magnetic Reconnection

Here I review briefly the theory of magnetohydrodynamic reconnection and ask what observational evidence is there that it is heating the corona. In particular, the new directions in which three-dimensional theory for reconnection is heading are outlined. Part of the coronal heating problem has been solved with the identification of reconnection driven by converging flux motions as the key for x-ray bright points. Furthermore, it has been shown that the large-scale diffuse corona is heated rather uniformly, so that turbulent reconnection by braiding or ion-cyclotron waves driven by network micro-flares are prime candidates. Finally, reconnection is the natural explanation for a wide variety of phenomena discovered by SOHO including explosive events, blinkers, the magnetic carpet and even possibly tornadoes. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Transition region and coronal plasmas: instrumentation and spectral analysis

The plasma conditions in the solar atmosphere and, in particular, in coronal holes are summarized, before space-borne instrumentation for observing these regions in vacuum-ultraviolet light is briefly introduced with the Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation (SUMER) spectrometer on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) as example. Spectroscopic measurements of small plasma jets are then analyzed in detail. Magnetic reconnection is thought to be responsible for heating the corona of the Sun as well as accelerating the solar wind by converting magnetic energy into thermal and kinetic energies. The continuous outflow of the fast solar wind from coronal holes on ‘open’ field lines, which reach out into interplanetary space, then requires many reconnection events of very small scale sizes – most of them probably below the resolution capabilities of present-day instruments. Our observations of such an event have been obtained with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) providing both high-resolution imaging and spectral information for structural and dynamical studies. We find whirling or rotating motions as well as jets with acceleration along their propagation paths in close spatial and temporal vicinity to the coronal jet. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Numerical Simulations of the Flux Tube Tectonics Model for Coronal Heating

In this paper we present results from 3D MHD numerical simulations based on the flux tube tectonics method of coronal heating proposed by Priest, Heyvaerts, and Title (2002). They suggested that individual coronal loops connect to the photosphere in many different magnetic flux fragments and that separatrix surfaces exist between the fingers connecting a loop to the photosphere and between individual loops. Simple lateral motions of the flux fragments could then cause currents to concentrate along the separatrices which may then drive reconnection contributing to coronal heating. Here we have taken a simple configuration with four flux patches on the top and bottom of the numerical domain and a small background axial field. Then we move two of the flux patches on the base between the other two using periodic boundary conditions such that when they leave the box they re-enter it at the other end. This simple motion soon causes current sheets to build up along the quasi-separatrix layers and subsequently magnetic diffusion/reconnection occurs.     

Fast magnetic reconnection with Cowling’s conductivity

The aim of the present paper is to explore the mechanism of fast Sweet–Parker’s magnetic reconnection with the Cowling’s conductivity. Cowling derived the resistivity of plasma with three components: electrons, ions and neutral particles in magnetic field theoretically after Spitzer. The resistivity is much larger than the Spitzer’s. According to the idea of partially ionized plasmas ejected into the corona as the trigger of flares, we adopt Cowling’s Conductivity to Sweet–Parker’s reconnection model in this paper. The result shows that the reconnection rate can be improved a lot in solar corona and approaches the timescale of solar flare in the absence of anomalous resistivity.     

Solar flares： radio and X-ray signatures of magnetic reconnection processes

This review summarizes new trends in studies of magnetic reconnection in solar flares. It is shown that plasmoids play a very important role in this primary flare process. Using the results of magnetohydrodynamic and particle-in-cell simulations, we describe how the plasmoids are formed, how they move and interact, and how a flare current sheet is fragmented into a cascade of plasmoids. Furthermore, it is shown that during the interactions of these plasmoids electrons are not only very efficiently accelerated and heated, but electromagnetic（radio） emission is also produced.We also describe possible mechanisms for the triggering of magnetic reconnection.The relevant X-ray and radio signatures of these processes（such as radio drifting pulsation structures, narrowband dm-spikes, and the loop-top and above-the-loop-top X-ray sources） are then described. It is shown that plasmoids can also be formed in kinked magnetic ropes. A mapping of X-points of the magnetic reconnection on the chromosphere（as e.g. a splitting of flare ribbons） is mentioned. Supporting EUV and white-light observations of plasmoids are added. The significance of all these processes for the fast magnetic reconnection and electron acceleration is outlined. Their role in fusion experiments is briefly mentioned.     

经自适应网格改造后的SHASTA程序和磁重联数值实验

SHASTA(Shaarp and smooth Transport Algorithm)是求解二维磁流体动力学问题的单一网格程序.在将其用于磁重联问题的数值模拟时,它被修改成为采用自适应网格方法的程序.修改后的程序可以针对扩散区进行细化计算.在SHASTA程序的自适应计算实现过程中,采用了插入式的自适应修改策略,原二维磁流体力学偏微分方程的求解算法被作为独立单元使用.另外,修改中使用分层的数据结构,将每个细化层次的物理量用二维可变数组描述,并标记磁场和压强分布的陡变区为细化区域,再通过插值的方法得到细化层网格点上的物理量分布和边界条件,最后细化区域的细化计算结果被赋予给其上一层网格,并对其内容进行更新.采用细化计算进行的磁重联的模拟实验表明,相比单一网格计算,细节分辨率得到提高,相应的计算时间的增加则与模拟中的参数选择有关;而自适应程序部分带来的计算精度和稳定性的影响则依赖于边界设置,单步长的推进策略和插值算法.