Moreno-Insertis, Fernando
Bibliographical reference
Cosmic Magnetic Fields: From Planets, to Stars and Galaxies, Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, IAU Symposium, Volume 259, p. 201-210
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4
2009
Citations
1
Refereed citations
1
Description
Magnetized plasma is emerging continually from the solar interior into
the atmosphere. Magnetic flux emergence events and their consequences in
the solar atmosphere are being observed with high space, time and
spectral resolution by a large number of space missions in operation at
present (e.g. SOHO, Hinode, Stereo, Rhessi). The collision of an
emerging and a preexisting magnetic flux system in the solar atmosphere
leads to the formation of current sheets and to field line reconnection.
Reconnection under solar coronal conditions is an energetic event; for
the field strengths, densities and speeds involved in the collision of
emerging flux systems, the reconnection outflows lead to launching of
high-speed (hundreds of km/s), high-temperature (107 K)
plasma jets. Such jets are being observed with the X-Ray and EUV
detectors of ongoing satellite missions. On the other hand, the
spectacular increase in computational power in recent years permits to
carry out three-dimensional numerical experiments of the time evolution
of flux emerging systems and the launching of jets with a remarkable
degree of detail.
In this review, observation and modeling of the solar X-Ray jets are
discussed. A two-decade long computational effort to model the magnetic
flux emergence events by different teams has led to numerical
experiments which explain, even quantitatively, many of the observed
features of the X-ray jets. The review points out that, although
alternative mechanisms must be considered, flux emergence is a prime
candidate to explain the launching of the solar jets.