Annihilation of Magnetic Islands at the Top of Solar Flare Loops

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution MHD simulations to reveal how magnetic islands are annihilated at the top of solar flare loops, significantly contributing to magnetic energy release and plasma heating during solar flares.

Contribution

It demonstrates the importance of secondary magnetic reconnection at flare loop tops, a process not included in standard flare models, and characterizes the flux distribution of secondary islands.

Findings

Secondary reconnection releases substantial magnetic energy.

Flux distribution of secondary islands follows a power-law.

Termination shocks decrease in scale and strength with higher plasma beta or thermal conduction.

Abstract

The dynamics of magnetic reconnection in the solar current sheet (CS) is studied by high-resolution 2.5-dimensional MHD simulation. With the commence of magnetic reconnection, a number of magnetic islands are formed intermittently and move quickly upward and downward along the CS. When colliding with the semi-closed flux of flare loops, the downflow islands cause a second reconnection with a rate even comparable with that in the main CS. Though the time-integrated magnetic energy release is still dominated by the reconnection in main CS, the second reconnection can release substantial magnetic energy, annihilating the main islands and generating secondary islands with various scales at the flare loop top. The distribution function of the flux of the second islands is found to follow a power-law varying from $f\left(\psi\right)\sim\psi^{-1}$ (small scale) to $\psi^{-2}$ (large scale), which seems to be independent with background plasma $\beta$ and if including thermal conduction. However, the spatial scale and the strength of the termination shocks driven by main reconnection outflows or islands decrease if $\beta$ increases or thermal conduction is included. We suggest that the annihilation of magnetic islands at the flare loop top, which is not included in the standard flare model, plays a non-negligible role in releasing magnetic energy to heat flare plasma and accelerate particles.