Cheng, X;
Priest, ER;
Li, HT;
Chen, J;
Aulanier, G;
Chitta, LP;
Wang, YL;
... Parenti, S; + view all
(2023)
Ultra-high-resolution observations of persistent null-point reconnection in the solar corona.
Nature Communications
, 14
, Article 2107. 10.1038/s41467-023-37888-w.
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Abstract
MMagnetic reconnection is a key mechanism involved in solar eruptions and is also a prime possibility to heat the low corona to millions of degrees. Here, we present ultra-high-resolution extreme ultraviolet observations of persistent null-point reconnection in the corona at a scale of about 390 km over one hour observations of the Extreme-Ultraviolet Imager on board Solar Orbiter spacecraft. The observations show formation of a null-point configuration above a minor positive polarity embedded within a region of dominant negative polarity near a sunspot. The gentle phase of the persistent null-point reconnection is evidenced by sustained point-like high-temperature plasma (about 10 MK) near the null-point and constant outflow blobs not only along the outer spine but also along the fan surface. The blobs appear at a higher frequency than previously observed with an average velocity of about 80 km s−1 and life-times of about 40 s. The null-point reconnection also occurs explosively but only for 4 minutes, its coupling with a mini-filament eruption generates a spiral jet. These results suggest that magnetic reconnection, at previously unresolved scales, proceeds continually in a gentle and/or explosive way to persistently transfer mass and energy to the overlying corona
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Ultra-high-resolution observations of persistent null-point reconnection in the solar corona |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41467-023-37888-w |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37888-w |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s) 2023 This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Astrophysical plasmas, Solar physics |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10168478 |
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