Imaging Observations of Magnetic Reconnection in a Solar Eruptive Flare

Abstract

Solar flares are one of the most energetic events in the solar atmosphere. It is widely accepted that flares are powered by magnetic reconnection in the corona. An eruptive flare is usually accompanied by a coronal mass ejection, both of which are probably driven by the eruption of a magnetic flux rope (MFR). Here we report an eruptive flare on 2016 March 23 observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory. The extreme-ultraviolet imaging observations exhibit the clear rise and eruption of an MFR. In particular, the observations reveal solid evidence for magnetic reconnection from both the corona and chromosphere during the flare. Moreover, weak reconnection is observed before the start of the flare. We find that the preflare weak reconnection is of tether-cutting type and helps the MFR to rise slowly. Induced by a further rise of the MFR, strong reconnection occurs in the rise phases of the flare, which is temporally related to the MFR eruption. We also find that the magnetic reconnection is more of 3D-type in the early phase, as manifested in a strong-to-weak shear transition in flare loops, and becomes more 2D-like in the later phase, as shown by the apparent rising motion of an arcade of flare loops.

arXiv commentApJ accepted. Comments are welcome

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• A Database of Flare Ribbon Properties From Solar Dynamics Observatory I: Reconnection Flux
• Simultaneous observation of a flux rope eruption and magnetic reconnection during an X-class solar flare
• Observations of a quasi-periodic pulsation in the coronal loop and microwave flux during a solar preflare phase
• Energy partition in two M-class circular-ribbon flares
• Observations of Electron-driven Evaporation during a Flare Precursor
• Observations of Reconnection Flows in a Flare on the Solar Disk
• Fast degradation of the circular flare ribbon on 2014 August 24
• How flux feeding causes eruptions of solar magnetic flux ropes with the hyperbolic flux tube configuration?
• Investigating Pre-flare Signatures in Spectroscopic Observations of an X9-class Solar Flare
• Searching for $\gamma$-ray Counterparts to Very Faint X-Ray Transient Neutron Star binaries