Patchy Reconnection in a Y-Type Current Sheet
Astrophysics
2015-05-13 v2
Abstract
We study the evolution of the magnetic field in a Y-type current sheet subject to a brief, localized magnetic reconnection event. The reconnection produces up- and down-flowing reconnected flux tubes which rapidly decelerate when they hit the Y-lines and underlying magnetic arcade loops at the ends of the current sheet. This localized reconnection outflow followed by a rapid deceleration reproduces the observed behavior of post-CME downflowing coronal voids. These simulations support the hypothesis that these observed coronal downflows are the retraction of magnetic fields reconnected in localized patches in the high corona.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0712.1235,
title = {Patchy Reconnection in a Y-Type Current Sheet},
author = {M. G. Linton and C. R. DeVore and D. W. Longcope},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0712.1235},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
4 pages, 3 figures