Topological model of the anemone microflares in the solar chromosphere

Context: The chromospheric anemone microflares, which were discovered by Hinode satellite about a decade ago, are specific transient phenomena starting from a few luminous ribbons on the chromospheric surface and followed by an eruption upward. While the eruptive stage was studied in sufficient detail, a quantitative theory of formation of the initial multi-ribbon structure remains undeveloped until now. Aims: We construct a sufficiently simple but general model of the magnetic field sources that is able to reproduce all the observed types of luminous ribbons by varying only a single parameter. Methods: As a working tool, we employed the Gorbachev-Kel'ner-Somov-Shvarts (GKSS) model of the magnetic field, which was originally suggested about three decades ago to explain fast ignition of the magnetic reconnection over considerable spatial scales by tiny displacements of the magnetic sources. Quite unexpectedly, this model turns out to be efficient for the description of generic multi-ribbon structures in the anemone flares as well. Results: As follows from our numerical simulation, displacement of a single magnetic source (sunspot) with respect to three other sources results in a complex transformation from three to four ribbons and then again to three ribbons, but with an absolutely different arrangement. Such structures closely resemble the observed patterns of emission in the anemone microflares.Comment: LaTeX, aa documentclass, 4 pages, 4 EPS figures, submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics; v2: 6 pages, 5 EPS figures, text substantially extended and modified, 1 figure replaced and 1 figure added, Appendix added; v3: minor textual correction

Indeterminacy and instability in Petschek reconnection

We explain two puzzling aspects of Petschek's model for fast reconnection. One is its failure to occur in plasma simulations with uniform resistivity. The other is its inability to provide anything more than an upper limit for the reconnection rate. We have found that previously published analytical solutions based on Petschek's model are structurally unstable if the electrical resistivity is uniform. The structural instability is associated with the presence of an essential singularity at the X-line that is unphysical. By requiring that such a singularity does not exist, we obtain a formula that predicts a specific rate of reconnection. For uniform resistivity, reconnection can only occur at the slow, Sweet-Parker rate. For nonuniform resistivity, reconnection can occur at a much faster rate provided that the resistivity profile is not too flat near the X-line. If this condition is satisfied, then the scale length of the nonuniformity determines the reconnection rate

On the Triggering of M-Class Solar Flare due to Loop-loop Interaction in AR NOAA 10875

We present multiwavelength analysis of an M7.9 /1N solar flare which occurred on 27 April 2006 in AR NOAA 10875. The flare was triggered due to the interaction of two loop systems. GOES soft X-ray and TRACE 195 {\AA} image sequences show the observational evidences of 3-D X-type loop-loop interaction with converging motion at the interaction site. We found the following characteristics during the loop- loop interaction: (i) a short duration/impulsive flare obeying the Neupart effect, (ii) double peak structure in radio flux profiles (in 4.9 and 8.8 GHz), (iii) quasi-periodic oscillations in the radio flux profiles for the duration of \sim3 min, (iv) absence of CME and type III radio burst. The above characteristics observed during the flare are in agreement with the theory and simulation of current loop coalescence by Sakai et al. (1986). These are unique multiwavelength observations, which provide the evidences of loop-loop interaction and associated triggering of solar flare without CME.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, to be appear in the Proc. of the 1st Asian-Pacific Solar Phys. Meetin

An Extreme Solar Event of 20 January 2005: Properties of the Flare and the Origin of Energetic Particles

The extreme solar and SEP event of 20 January 2005 is analyzed from two perspectives. Firstly, we study features of the main phase of the flare, when the strongest emissions from microwaves up to 200 MeV gamma-rays were observed. Secondly, we relate our results to a long-standing controversy on the origin of SEPs arriving at Earth, i.e., acceleration in flares, or shocks ahead of CMEs. All emissions from microwaves up to 2.22 MeV line gamma-rays during the main flare phase originated within a compact structure located just above sunspot umbrae. A huge radio burst with a frequency maximum at 30 GHz was observed, indicating the presence of a large number of energetic electrons in strong magnetic fields. Thus, protons and electrons responsible for flare emissions during its main phase were accelerated within the magnetic field of the active region. The leading, impulsive parts of the GLE, and highest-energy gamma-rays identified with pi^0-decay emission, are similar and correspond in time. The origin of the pi^0-decay gamma-rays is argued to be the same as that of lower energy emissions. We estimate the sky-plane speed of the CME to be 2000-2600 km/s, i.e., high, but of the same order as preceding non-GLE-related CMEs from the same active region. Hence, the flare itself rather than the CME appears to determine the extreme nature of this event. We conclude that the acceleration, at least, to sub-relativistic energies, of electrons and protons, responsible for both the flare emissions and the leading spike of SEP/GLE by 07 UT, are likely to have occurred simultaneously within the flare region. We do not rule out a probable contribution from particles accelerated in the CME-driven shock for the leading GLE spike, which seemed to dominate later on.Comment: 34 pages, 14 Postscript figures. Solar Physics, accepted. A typo corrected. The original publication is available at http://www.springerlink.co

Direct comparison of phase-space distributions of K- and K+ mesons in heavy-ion collisions at SIS energies - evidence for in-medium modifications of kaons ?

The ratio of K- to K+ meson yields has been measured in the systems RuRu at 1.69 A GeV, Ru+Zr at 1.69 A GeV, and Ni+Ni at 1.93 A GeV incident beam kinetic energy. The yield ratio is observed to vary across the measured phase space. Relativistic transport-model calculations indicate that the data are best understood if in-medium modifications of the kaons are taken into account.Comment: 14 pages including 3 figure