Cheng, X., Li, Y., Wan, L.F. et al. (4 more authors) (2018) Observations of turbulent magnetic reconnection within a solar current sheet. The Astrophysical Journal, 866 (1). 64. ISSN 0004-637X
Abstract
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental physical process in various astrophysical, space, and laboratory environments. Many pieces of evidence for magnetic reconnection have been uncovered. However, its specific processes that could be fragmented and turbulent have been short of direct observational evidence. Here, we present observations of a super-hot current sheet during the SOL2017-09-10T X8.2-class solar flare that display the fragmented and turbulent nature of magnetic reconnection. As bilateral plasmas converge toward the current sheet, significant plasma heating and nonthermal motions are detected therein. Two oppositely directed outflow jets are intermittently expelled out of the fragmenting current sheet, whose intensity shows a power-law distribution in the spatial frequency domain. The intensity and velocity of the sunward outflow jets also display a power-law distribution in the temporal frequency domain. The length-to-width ratio of current sheet is estimated to be larger than the theoretical threshold and thus ensures its occurrence. The observations therefore suggest that fragmented and turbulent magnetic reconnection occurs in the long stretching current sheet.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 The Authors. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. |
Keywords: | magnetic reconnection; Sun: coronal mass ejections (CMEs); Sun: flares; turbulence |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Mathematics and Statistics (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 13 Nov 2019 11:08 |
Last Modified: | 13 Nov 2019 11:08 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Astronomical Society |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.3847/1538-4357/aadd16 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:152154 |