Solar Flares as Cascades of Reconnecting Magnetic Loops
D. Hughes (1), M. Paczuski (1), R.O. Dendy (2), P. Helander (2), and, K.G. McClements (2) ((1) Imperial College of Science, Technology and, Medicine, (2) EURATOM/UKAEA Fusion Association)
TL;DR
This paper presents a model of solar flares as cascades of magnetic loop reconnections, demonstrating how small-scale loop interactions can lead to large energy releases following a power law distribution.
Contribution
It introduces a novel dynamic model of the solar coronal magnetic field with reconnection-driven cascades, highlighting self-organized criticality in flare activity.
Findings
Power law distribution of flare energies observed in simulations
Scale-free network structure of magnetic loops
Self-organized criticality in solar flare dynamics
Abstract
A model for the solar coronal magnetic field is proposed where multiple directed loops evolve in space and time. Loops injected at small scales are anchored by footpoints of opposite polarity moving randomly on a surface. Nearby footpoints of the same polarity aggregate, and loops can reconnect when they collide. This may trigger a cascade of further reconnection, representing a solar flare. Numerical simulations show that a power law distribution of flare energies emerges, associated with a scale free network of loops, indicating self-organized criticality.
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