Energetic electrons and photospheric electric currents during solar flares
Abstract
It is currently admitted that solar flares are powered by magnetic energy previously stored in the coronal magnetic field. During magnetic reconnection processes, this energy is transferred to particle acceleration, plasma motion and plasma heating. Magnetic energy release is likely to occur on coronal currents sheets along regions of strong gradient of magnetic connectivity. These coronal current sheets can be traced by their footprints at the surface on the Sun, i.e. by photospheric current ribbons. We aim to study the relation between these current ribbons observed at the photospheric level, tracing the coronal current sheets, and the flare energetic electrons traced by their X-ray emissions. The photospheric magnetic field and vertical current density have been calculated from SDO/HMI spectropolarimetric data with the UNNOFIT inversion and Metcalf disambiguation codes, while the X-ray images and spectra have been reconstructed from RHESSI data. In a first case, the GOES X2.2 flare of February 15, 2011, a spatial correlation is observed between the photospheric current ribbons and the coronal X-ray emissions from energetic electrons. Moreover, a conjoint evolution of both the photospheric currents and the X-ray emission is observed during the course of the flare. Both results are interpreted as consequences of the magnetic reconnection in coronal current sheets, and propagation of the reconnection sites to new structures during the flare, leading to new X-ray emission and local increase of the photospheric currents (Musset et al., 2015). We shall discuss here similar results obtained for other X-class flares.
- Publication:
-
41st COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- July 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016cosp...41E1373M