Three Dimensional, Patchy Reconnection in a One Dimensional Current Sheet
Abstract
Due to the highly complex nature of the 3D solar coronal magnetic field, it is likely that reconnection will often be patchy, consisting of many short-duration, highly localized events. To investigate this possibility and its implications, we have studied the dynamics of localized 3D reconnection in a large scale 1D current sheet. We impose the reconnection in an MHD simulation by enhancing the resistivity in a small region for a short time, thus allowing a finite amount of flux to reconnect. This forms a pair of 3D reconnected flux tubes piercing the current sheet. These tubes then retract from the reconnection region, pushing their way through the surrounding magnetic field. We will discuss the dynamics of these flux tubes, their possible relation to descending `tadpole'-like features sometimes observed during flares, and the evolution of the shocks which form during the reconnection and then propagate along the tubes. This work has been supported by NASA and ONR.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2004
- Bibcode:
- 2004AGUFMSH13A1160L
- Keywords:
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- 7519 Flares;
- 7524 Magnetic fields