skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: DETECTION OF A FINE-SCALE DISCONTINUITY OF PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETIC FIELDS ASSOCIATED WITH SOLAR CORONAL LOOP BRIGHTENINGS

Abstract

We present the transient brightening of a coronal loop and an associated fine-scale magnetic discontinuity detected in the photosphere. Utilizing the high-resolution data taken with the Fast Imaging Solar Spectrograph and InfraRed Imaging Magnetograph of the New Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory, we detect a narrow lane of intense horizontal magnetic field representing a magnetic discontinuity. It was visible as a dark lane partially encircling a pore in the continuum image, and was located near one of the footpoints of a small coronal loop that experienced transient brightenings. The horizontal field strength gradually increased before the loop brightening, and then rapidly decreased in the impulsive phase of the brightening, suggesting the increase of the magnetic non-potentiality at the loop footpoint and the sudden release of magnetic energy via magnetic reconnection. Our results support the nanoflare theory that coronal heating events are caused by magnetic reconnection events at fine-scale magnetic discontinuities.

Authors:
; ;  [1]; ;  [2]; ;  [3]
  1. Astronomy Program, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742 (Korea, Republic of)
  2. Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Daejeon 305-348 (Korea, Republic of)
  3. Big Bear Solar Observatory, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Big Bear City, CA 92314 (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22518892
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 810; Journal Issue: 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 2041-8205
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; DETECTION; HEATING; IMAGES; MAGNETIC FIELDS; MAGNETIC RECONNECTION; MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS; PHOTOSPHERE; RESOLUTION; SOLAR CORONA; SUN; TELESCOPES; TRANSIENTS

Citation Formats

Song, Donguk, Chae, Jongchul, Park, Soyoung, Cho, Kyung-Suk, Lim, Eun-Kyung, Ahn, Kwangsu, and Cao, Wenda. DETECTION OF A FINE-SCALE DISCONTINUITY OF PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETIC FIELDS ASSOCIATED WITH SOLAR CORONAL LOOP BRIGHTENINGS. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/810/2/L16.
Song, Donguk, Chae, Jongchul, Park, Soyoung, Cho, Kyung-Suk, Lim, Eun-Kyung, Ahn, Kwangsu, & Cao, Wenda. DETECTION OF A FINE-SCALE DISCONTINUITY OF PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETIC FIELDS ASSOCIATED WITH SOLAR CORONAL LOOP BRIGHTENINGS. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/810/2/L16
Song, Donguk, Chae, Jongchul, Park, Soyoung, Cho, Kyung-Suk, Lim, Eun-Kyung, Ahn, Kwangsu, and Cao, Wenda. 2015. "DETECTION OF A FINE-SCALE DISCONTINUITY OF PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETIC FIELDS ASSOCIATED WITH SOLAR CORONAL LOOP BRIGHTENINGS". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/810/2/L16.
@article{osti_22518892,
title = {DETECTION OF A FINE-SCALE DISCONTINUITY OF PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETIC FIELDS ASSOCIATED WITH SOLAR CORONAL LOOP BRIGHTENINGS},
author = {Song, Donguk and Chae, Jongchul and Park, Soyoung and Cho, Kyung-Suk and Lim, Eun-Kyung and Ahn, Kwangsu and Cao, Wenda},
abstractNote = {We present the transient brightening of a coronal loop and an associated fine-scale magnetic discontinuity detected in the photosphere. Utilizing the high-resolution data taken with the Fast Imaging Solar Spectrograph and InfraRed Imaging Magnetograph of the New Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory, we detect a narrow lane of intense horizontal magnetic field representing a magnetic discontinuity. It was visible as a dark lane partially encircling a pore in the continuum image, and was located near one of the footpoints of a small coronal loop that experienced transient brightenings. The horizontal field strength gradually increased before the loop brightening, and then rapidly decreased in the impulsive phase of the brightening, suggesting the increase of the magnetic non-potentiality at the loop footpoint and the sudden release of magnetic energy via magnetic reconnection. Our results support the nanoflare theory that coronal heating events are caused by magnetic reconnection events at fine-scale magnetic discontinuities.},
doi = {10.1088/2041-8205/810/2/L16},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22518892}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal Letters},
issn = {2041-8205},
number = 2,
volume = 810,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Sep 10 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Thu Sep 10 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}