Bibcode
Rouppe van der Voort, L.; De Pontieu, B.; Scharmer, G. B.; de la Cruz Rodríguez, J.; Martínez-Sykora, J.; Nóbrega-Siverio, D.; Guo, L. J.; Jafarzadeh, S.; Pereira, T. M. D.; Hansteen, V. H.; Carlsson, M.; Vissers, G.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 851, Issue 1, article id. L6, 8 pp. (2017).
Advertised on:
12
2017
Citations
66
Refereed citations
62
Description
Magnetic reconnection is thought to drive a wide variety of dynamic
phenomena in the solar atmosphere. Yet, the detailed physical mechanisms
driving reconnection are difficult to discern in the remote sensing
observations that are used to study the solar atmosphere. In this
Letter, we exploit the high-resolution instruments Interface Region
Imaging Spectrograph and the new CHROMIS Fabry–Pérot
instrument at the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST) to identify the
intermittency of magnetic reconnection and its association with the
formation of plasmoids in so-called UV bursts in the low solar
atmosphere. The Si IV 1403 Å UV burst spectra from the transition
region show evidence of highly broadened line profiles with often
non-Gaussian and triangular shapes, in addition to signatures of
bidirectional flows. Such profiles had previously been linked, in
idealized numerical simulations, to magnetic reconnection driven by the
plasmoid instability. Simultaneous CHROMIS images in the chromospheric
Ca II K 3934 Å line now provide compelling evidence for the
presence of plasmoids by revealing highly dynamic and rapidly moving
brightenings that are smaller than 0.″2 and that evolve on
timescales of the order of seconds. Our interpretation of the
observations is supported by detailed comparisons with synthetic
observables from advanced numerical simulations of magnetic reconnection
and associated plasmoids in the chromosphere. Our results highlight how
subarcsecond imaging spectroscopy sensitive to a wide range of
temperatures combined with advanced numerical simulations that are
realistic enough to compare with observations can directly reveal the
small-scale physical processes that drive the wide range of phenomena in
the solar atmosphere.
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Numerical simulation through complex computer codes has been a fundamental tool in physics and technology research for decades. The rapid growth of computing capabilities, coupled with significant advances in numerical mathematics, has made this branch of research accessible to medium-sized research centers, bridging the gap between theoretical and
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Nóbrega Siverio