RHESSI and TRACE Observations of Emerging Flux Reconnection in a Solar Jet on August 21, 2003

Solar jets, or transient, collimated brightenings, were first observed in soft x-rays by Yohkoh in the 1990’s. These observations led to the establishment of the Shibata-Heyvaerts emerging flux model for reconnection associated with jets. This model also predicts hard x-ray (HXR) emission during jet production, and recent RHESSI and HINODE observations appear to support this prediction. Unfortunately, projection effects make it difficult to determine whether HXR sources on the solar disk correspond to flare footpoints or the jet itself. Observation of jets near or at the solar limb can lessen this type of source confusion. Here, we present RHESSI observations of a partially occulted HXR flare that coincides with an EUV jet observed by TRACE on August 21, 2003. A double coronal HXR source is observed shortly before the emission of the jet, indicating the location of reconnection outflows. Thick- and thin-target models are used to estimate the electron energies and densities in the HXR sources, and allow for comparison with the emerging flux model.