Three-dimensional Turbulent Reconnection within Solar Flare Current Sheet

TL;DR

This paper presents a high-resolution 3D magnetohydrodynamical simulation revealing turbulent magnetic reconnection in solar flare current sheets, explaining complex observed features and advancing the understanding of energy release in solar flares.

Contribution

It introduces a self-consistent 3D turbulent reconnection model that unifies flare structures across scales, surpassing traditional 2D models.

Findings

Fragmented current patches with turbulence spectrum are generated.

Coupling of tearing-mode and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities drives turbulence.

Model results agree with realistic solar flare observations.

Abstract

Solar flares can release coronal magnetic energy explosively and may impact the safety of near-earth space environments. Their structures and properties on macroscale have been interpreted successfully by the generally-accepted two-dimension standard model invoking magnetic reconnection theory as the key energy conversion mechanism. Nevertheless, some momentous dynamical features as discovered by recent high-resolution observations remain elusive. Here, we report a self-consistent high-resolution three-dimension magnetohydrodynamical simulation of turbulent magnetic reconnection within a flare current sheet. It is found that fragmented current patches of different scales are spontaneously generated with a well-developed turbulence spectrum at the current sheet, as well as at the flare loop-top region. The close coupling of tearing-mode and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities plays a critical role in developing turbulent reconnection and in forming dynamical structures with synthetic observables in good agreement with realistic observations. The sophisticated modeling makes a paradigm shift from the traditional to three-dimension turbulent reconnection model unifying flare dynamical structures of different scales.