Signatures of Magnetic Stress Prior to Three Solar Flares Observed by RHESSI
Abstract
In order to better understand the location and evolution of magnetic reconnection, which is thought to be the energy release mechanism in solar flares, we combine the analysis of hard X-ray (HXR) sources observed by RHESSI with a three-dimensional, quantitative magnetic charge topology (MCT) model. We examine the location of reconnection by assuming a relationship between the build-up of energy in stressed coronal magnetic fields and the measurement of the change in separator flux per unit length. We find that the value of this quantity is larger on the separators that connect the HXR footpoint sources than the value on the separators that do not. Therefore, we conclude the MCT model gives useful insight into the relationship between sites of HXR emission and the topology of flare productive active regions.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2007
- Bibcode:
- 2007AGUFMSH13A1098D
- Keywords:
-
- 7519 Flares;
- 7524 Magnetic fields;
- 7526 Magnetic reconnection (2723;
- 7835);
- 7554 X-rays;
- gamma rays;
- and neutrinos