Related papers: Magnetic Reconnection Instabilities in Soft-Gamma …
We present a new model for soft gamma-ray repeaters based on a quark star born with temperatures above the critical value (T_c) for the onset of the colour-flavor locked superconductivity. The quark star then quickly cools below T_c,…
Plasmoid instability is usually accounted for the onset of fast reconnection events observed in astrophysical plasmas. However, the measured reconnection rate from observations can be one order of magnitude higher than that derived from MHD…
Four Soft Gamma Repeaters (SGRs) have now been identified with certainty, and a fifth has possibly been detected. I will review their X-ray and gamma-ray properties in both outburst and quiescence. The magnetar model accounts fairly well…
In the settling accretion theory, which is applicable to quasi-spherical accreting slowly rotating magnetized neutron stars with X-ray luminosity $L_x\lesssim 4\times 10^{36}$~erg/s, bright X-ray flares ($\sim 10^{38}-10^{40}$~ergs)…
Magnetic reconnection in laboratory, space and astrophysical plasmas is often invoked to explain explosive energy release and particle acceleration. However, the timescales involved in classical models within the macroscopic MHD regime are…
Solar flares are accessible to a broad variety of observational methods to see and investigate the {\em magnetic reconnection} phenomenon in high-temperature strongly-magnetized plasma of the solar corona. An analysis of the topological…
The elongated bright structures above solar flare loops are suggested to be current sheets, where magnetic reconnection takes place. Observations have revealed various characteristics of the current sheet; however, their physical origin…
The knowledge of the rate of soft gamma-ray repeater (SGR) giant flares is important for understanding the giant flare mechanism and the SGR energy budget in the framework of the magnetar model. We estimate the upper limit to the rate using…
GRB 051103 is considered to be a candidate soft gamma repeater (SGR) extragalactic giant magnetar flare by virtue of its proximity on the sky to M81/M82, as well as its time history, localization, and energy spectrum. We have derived a…
Magnetic reconnection is commonly considered as a mechanism of solar (eruptive) flares. A deeper study of this scenario reveals, however, a number of open issues. Among them is the fundamental question, how the magnetic energy is…
Sudden relaxation of the magnetic field in the core of a magnetar produces mechanical energy primarily in the form of shear waves which propagate to the surface and enter the magnetosphere as relativistic Alfv\'en waves. Due to a strong…
We attempt to model magnetic reconnection during the two-ribbon flare in the gravitationally stratified solar atmosphere with the Lundquist number of $S=10^6$ using 2D simulations. We found that the tearing mode instability leads to the…
We present the first results of three-dimensional (3D) numerical magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the onset of magnetic reconnection via the tearing instability in dynamically thinning current sheets in the solar corona. In all our…
Thanks to INTEGRAL's long exposures of the Galactic Plane, the two brightest Soft Gamma-Ray Repeaters, SGR 1806-20 and SGR 1900+14, have been monitored and studied in detail for the first time at hard-X/soft gamma rays. This has produced a…
In the solar corona, magnetic reconnection occurs due to the finite resistivity of the plasma. At the same time, resistivity leads to ohmic heating. Therefore, the reconnecting current sheet should heat the surrounding plasma. This paper…
We propose the Galactic flare model for the origin of the X-ray gas in the Galactic halo. For this purpose, we examine the magnetic reconnection triggered by Parker instability (magnetic buoyancy instability), by performing the…
Soft gamma repeaters and anomalous X-ray pulsars are believed to be magnetars, i.e. neutron stars powered by extreme magnetic fields, B~10^(14)-10^(15) Gauss. The recent discovery of a soft gamma repeater with low magnetic field (<…
Magnetic reconnection, or the ability of the magnetic field lines that are frozen in plasma to change their topology, is a fundamental problem of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). We briefly examine the problem starting with the well-known…
Within a MHD approach we find magnetic reconnection to progress in two entirely different ways. The first is well-known: the laminar Sweet-Parker process. But a second, completely different and chaotic reconnection process is possible. This…
The recent association of soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) with counterparts in other wavebands has sparked much interest in these sources. One of the recent models for these objects is that they originate in the environs of neutron stars with…