Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Volume 931, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
IOP Publishing Ltd
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac6b3d
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Russian Science Foundation [21-72-10157]
- National Science Foundation
- Russian Science Foundation [21-72-10157] Funding Source: Russian Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This paper presents experimental evidence of plasma heating caused by magnetic reconnection. By analyzing X-ray images, high-temperature emission was detected at the predicted location of the current sheet, confirming the connection between plasma heating and magnetic reconnection.
In the solar corona, magnetic reconnection occurs due to the finite resistivity of the plasma. At the same time, this resistivity leads to ohmic heating. Therefore, the reconnecting current sheet should heat the surrounding plasma. This paper presents experimental evidence of such plasma heating being caused by magnetic reconnection. We observed the effect during a C1.4 solar flare on 2003 February 16 at the active region NOAA 10278, near the solar limb. Thanks to such a location, we successfully identified all the principal elements of the flare: the flare arcade, the flux rope, and, most importantly, the presumed position of the current sheet. By analyzing the monochromatic X-ray images of the Sun obtained by the CORONAS-F/SPIRIT instrument in the Mg xii 8.42 angstrom spectral line, we detected a high-temperature (T >= 4 MK) emission at the predicted location of the current sheet. The high-temperature emission appeared during the CME's impulsive acceleration phase. We believe that this additionally confirms that the plasma heating around the current sheet and the magnetic reconnection inside the current sheet are strongly connected.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available