Explosive Chromospheric Evaporation in a Circular-ribbon Flare

TL;DR

This study presents multiwavelength observations of a circular-ribbon solar flare, revealing explosive chromospheric evaporation driven by nonthermal electrons during magnetic reconnection at a null point.

Contribution

It provides detailed observational evidence linking magnetic null point reconnection, filament eruption, and explosive evaporation in a circular-ribbon flare, highlighting the role of nonthermal electrons.

Findings

Plasma upflows of 35-120 km/s in Fe XXI line during flare.

Downflows of 10-60 km/s in Si IV line during impulsive phase.

Correlation of HXR source with flare ribbons indicating nonthermal electron-driven evaporation.

Abstract

In this paper, we report our multiwavelength observations of the C4.2 circular-ribbon flare in active region (AR) 12434 on 2015 October 16. The short-lived flare was associated with positive magnetic polarities and a negative polarity inside, as revealed by the photospheric line-of-sight magnetograms. Such magnetic pattern is strongly indicative of a magnetic null point and spine-fan configuration in the corona. The flare was triggered by the eruption of a mini-filament residing in the AR, which produced the inner flare ribbon (IFR) and the southern part of a closed circular flare ribbon (CFR). When the eruptive filament reached the null point, it triggered null point magnetic reconnection with the ambient open field and generated the bright CFR and a blowout jet. Raster observations of the \textit{Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph} (\textit{IRIS}) show plasma upflow at speed of 35$-$120 km s$^{-1}$ in the Fe {\sc xxi} 1354.09 {\AA} line ($\log T\approx7.05$) and downflow at speed of 10$-$60 km s$^{-1}$ in the Si {\sc iv} 1393.77 {\AA} line ($\log T\approx4.8$) at certain locations of the CFR and IFR during the impulsive phase of flare, indicating explosive chromospheric evaporation. Coincidence of the single HXR source at 12$-$25 keV with the IFR and calculation based on the thick-target model suggest that the explosive evaporation was most probably driven by nonthermal electrons.