An observationally-constrained model of strong magnetic reconnection in the solar chromosphere. Atmospheric stratification and estimates of heating rates

TL;DR

This study uses advanced spectropolarimetric data and non-LTE inversions to model magnetic reconnection in the solar chromosphere, revealing heating, plasma flows, and energy loss rates that support theoretical reconnection models.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed 3D model of a chromospheric reconnection event constrained by observations, including temperature, velocity, and radiative loss estimates.

Findings

Reconnection causes a ~2000 K temperature increase in the chromosphere.

Bright blobs (plasmoids) are ejected at ~100 km/s from the reconnection site.

Radiative losses at the reconnection site reach up to 160 kW/m².

Abstract

The evolution of the photospheric magnetic field plays a key role in the energy transport into the chromosphere and the corona. In active regions, newly emerging magnetic flux interacts with the pre-existent magnetic field, which can lead to reconnection events that convert magnetic energy to thermal energy. We aim to study the heating caused by a strong reconnection event that was triggered by magnetic flux cancellation. We use imaging-spectropolarimetric data in the Fe I 6301A, Fe I 6302A, Ca II 8542A and Ca II K obtained with the CRISP and CHROMIS instruments at the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope. This data was inverted using multi-atom, multi-line non-LTE inversions using the STiC code. The inversion yielded a three-dimensional model of the reconnection event and surrounding atmosphere, including temperature, velocity, microturbulence, magnetic file configuration, and the radiative loss rate. The model atmosphere shows the emergence of magnetic loops with a size of several arcsecs into a pre-existing predominantly unipolar field. Where the reconnection region is expected to be, we see an increase in the chromospheric temperature of roughly 2000 K as well as bidirectional flows of the order of 10 km s$^{-1}$ emanating from the region. We see bright blobs of roughly 0.2 arcsec diameter in the Ca II K moving at a plane-of-the-sky velocity of order 100 km s$^{-1}$ and a blueshift of 100 km s$^{-1}$, which we interpret as plasmoids ejected from the same region. This evidence is consistent with theoretical models of reconnection and we thus conclude that reconnection is taking place. The chromospheric radiative losses at the reconnection site in our inferred model are as high as 160 kW m$^{-2}$, providing a quantitative constraint on theoretical models that aim to simulate reconnection caused by flux emergence in the chromosphere.