A magnetic confinement nuclear fusion mechanism for solar flares

TL;DR

This paper proposes a magnetic confinement nuclear fusion mechanism within flux ropes to explain solar flare phenomena, including helium enrichment and gamma-ray emissions, supported by MHD simulations of flare development.

Contribution

It introduces a novel fusion-based mechanism for solar flares that accounts for observed energetic and compositional features, supported by detailed simulation analysis.

Findings

Fusion occurs in flux ropes during flares

Simulation reveals three stages of flare development

Mechanism explains helium enrichment and gamma-ray emissions

Abstract

We propose a magnetic confinement nuclear fusion mechanism for the evolution of a solar flare in solar atmosphere. The mechanism agree with two observed characteristics of explosive flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that have proved to be very difficult to explain with previous mechanisms: the huge enrichments of $^{3}He$ and the high energy gamma ray radiation. The twisted magnetic flux rope is a typical structure during the solar flares, which is closely related to the solar active region that magnetic fields have almost complete control over the plasma. Consequently, the plasma inside the flux rope is heated to more than 1.0$\times10^{7}$ K by adiabatic compression process, and then the thermonuclear fusion can take place in the flux rope accompanied with high energy gamma rays. We utilize the time-dependent ideal 2.5-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation to demonstrate the physical mechanism for producing flares, which reveals three stages of flare development with process of magnetic energy conversion and intense release during the solar flares and CMEs in solar atmosphere. Furthermore, we discuss the relationship between magnetic reconnection and solar eruptions.