IMAGING A MAGNETIC-BREAKOUT SOLAR ERUPTION
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, and Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University, Weihai 264209 (China)
- Stanford-Lockheed Institute for Space Research, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)
The fundamental mechanism initiating coronal mass ejections (CMEs) remains controversial. One of the leading theories is magnetic breakout, in which magnetic reconnection occurring high in the corona removes the confinement on an energized low-corona structure from the overlying magnetic field, thus allowing it to erupt. Here, we report critical observational evidence of this elusive breakout reconnection in a multi-polar magnetic configuration that leads to a CME and an X-class, long-duration flare. Its occurrence is supported by the presence of pairs of heated cusp-shaped loops around an X-type null point and signatures of reconnection inflows. Other peculiar features new to the breakout picture include sequential loop brightening, coronal hard X-rays at energies up to ∼100 keV, and extended high-corona X-rays above the later restored multi-polar structure. These observations, from a novel perspective with clarity never achieved before, present crucial clues to understanding the initiation mechanism of solar eruptions.
- OSTI ID:
- 22518524
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 820, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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