Three dimensional magnetic reconnection mediated with plasmoids and the resulted multi-thermal emissions in the cool atmosphere of the Sun

TL;DR

This study uses 3D radiation magnetohydrodynamic simulations to investigate plasmoid formation and multi-thermal emissions during magnetic reconnection in the Sun's lower atmosphere, explaining features of Ellerman bombs and UV bursts.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed simulation of plasmoid-mediated magnetic reconnection in the Sun's lower atmosphere, linking small-scale reconnection events to observed multi-thermal emissions.

Findings

Plasmoid formation leads to coexistence of hot and cool plasma during reconnection.

Synthetic spectral profiles reproduce features of Ellerman bombs and UV bursts.

Reconnection processes can produce observable multi-thermal emissions in the solar atmosphere.

Abstract

Flux emergence is ubiquitous in the Sun's lower atmosphere, where the emerging magnetic flux can reconnect with the pre-existing magnetic field. We investigate plasmoid formation and the resulting multi-thermal emissions during three-dimensional magnetic reconnection in the lower solar atmosphere. We performed 3D radiation magnetohydrodynamic simulations using the MURaM code, which incorporates solar convection and radiative transfer. A flat magnetic flux sheet was introduced into the convection zone to trigger flux emergence. For comparison with previous observations, we used the RH1.5D code to synthesize H{\alpha} and Si IV spectral line profiles, and generated ultraviolet images using the optically thin approximation. The simulations show that flux emergence occurs as the imposed flux tube crosses the photosphere. In the lower solar atmosphere, magnetic reconnection forms thin, elongated current sheets, and plasmoid-like structures develop, producing numerous small twisted magnetic flux ropes that are expelled toward both ends of the reconnection region. This process results in the coexistence of hot plasma exceeding 20,000 K and cooler plasma below 10,000 K. Synthetic images and spectral line profiles through the reconnection region exhibit features characteristic of Ellerman bombs (EBs) and UV bursts. Cooler plasma associated with EBs can be found above hot plasma at altitudes exceeding 2 Mm above the solar surface, while hot plasma associated with UV bursts can extend downward into the lower chromosphere, reaching approximately 0.7 Mm above the surface. These results indicate that turbulent reconnection mediated by plasmoid instability can occur in small-scale events such as EBs and UV bursts, and that the coexistence of hot and cool plasma in such reconnection processes can account for UV bursts that are temporally and spatially connected to EBs.