Intermittent reconnection and plasmoids in UV bursts in the low solar atmosphere

TL;DR

This study combines high-resolution observations and simulations to reveal how magnetic reconnection and plasmoid formation drive dynamic UV bursts in the low solar atmosphere, providing new insights into small-scale solar phenomena.

Contribution

It demonstrates the direct link between magnetic reconnection, plasmoid formation, and UV bursts using combined observational and simulation data, highlighting the importance of high-resolution imaging spectroscopy.

Findings

Evidence of highly broadened, non-Gaussian line profiles indicating reconnection.

Detection of rapidly moving, small-scale plasmoids in chromospheric images.

Simulations support the observed signatures of reconnection and plasmoid dynamics.

Abstract

Magnetic reconnection is thought to drive a wide variety of dynamic phenomena in the solar atmosphere. Yet the detailed physical mechanisms driving reconnection are difficult to discern in the remote sensing observations that are used to study the solar atmosphere. In this paper we exploit the high-resolution instruments Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) and the new CHROMIS Fabry-Perot instrument at the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST) to identify the intermittency of magnetic reconnection and its association with the formation of plasmoids in so-called UV bursts in the low solar atmosphere. The Si IV 1403A UV burst spectra from the transition region show evidence of highly broadened line profiles with often non-Gaussian and triangular shapes, in addition to signatures of bidirectional flows. Such profiles had previously been linked, in idealized numerical simulations, to magnetic reconnection driven by the plasmoid instability. Simultaneous CHROMIS images in the chromospheric Ca II K 3934A line now provide compelling evidence for the presence of plasmoids, by revealing highly dynamic and rapidly moving brightenings that are smaller than 0.2 arcsec and that evolve on timescales of order seconds. Our interpretation of the observations is supported by detailed comparisons with synthetic observables from advanced numerical simulations of magnetic reconnection and associated plasmoids in the chromosphere. Our results highlight how subarcsecond imaging spectroscopy sensitive to a wide range of temperatures combined with advanced numerical simulations that are realistic enough to compare with observations can directly reveal the small-scale physical processes that drive the wide range of phenomena in the solar atmosphere.