Discussion on the vanishment of solar atmospheric structures during magnetic reconnection

TL;DR

This study investigates how solar atmospheric structures diminish during magnetic reconnection, revealing that structures can vanish suddenly, likely due to magnetic tension, 3D effects, or magnetic field annihilation.

Contribution

First observational evidence showing the partial vanishing of solar atmospheric structures during magnetic reconnection events.

Findings

Structures shorten significantly during reconnection, with length decreases of up to 47 Mm.

Reconnection involves observable topological changes over at least 10 minutes.

Multiple mechanisms, including magnetic tension and field annihilation, may explain structure vanishment.

Abstract

In solar atmosphere, magnetic reconnection alters the topological connectivity, and magnetic energy is released. However, the length change of the reconnecting structures has rarely been reported. To identify the evolution of the topological structures, we search for reconnection events which should satisfy 3 criteria. (1) Each event displays an explicit X-type configuration, and the configuration consists of two sets of independent atmospheric structures, (2) the reconnection process is clearly observed, and (3) the topological connectivity of the structures can be tracked from at least 5 minutes prior to the occurrence of magnetic reconnection to 5 minutes after the reconnection. In this work, 3 events are selected and studied. During the reconnection moment, the total length of the two topological structures in each event shortens suddenly, and the decrements for events 1--3 are 47 Mm, 3.7 Mm, and 8.2 Mm, respectively, implying that partial structures vanish observationally during magnetic reconnection process. Several possibilities about the vanishment, e.g. the shrinkage of the reconnecting structures due to magnetic tension, the bizarre change in the third dimension, and magnetic field annihilation, have been discussed.