Related papers: The Thickness of Electric Current Sheets and Impli…
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…
Magnetic reconnection, a fundamentally important process in many aspects of astrophysics, is believed to be initiated by the tearing instability of an electric current sheet, a region where magnetic field abruptly changes direction and…
We investigate the dynamical evolution of magnetic fields in closed regions of solar and stellar coronae. To understand under which conditions current sheets form, we examine dissipative and ideal reduced magnetohydrodynamic models in…
Current sheets are essential for energy dissipation in the solar corona, in particular by enabling magnetic reconnection. Unfortunately, sufficiently thin current sheets cannot be resolved observationally and the theory of their formation…
The dynamics of magnetic fields in closed regions of solar and stellar coronae are investigated with a reduced magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model in the framework of Parker scenario for coronal heating. A novel analysis of reduced MHD…
Magnetic reconnection changes the magnetic field topology and powers explosive events in astrophysical, space and laboratory plasmas. For flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the solar atmosphere, the standard model predicts the…
From pulsar scintillations we infer the presence of sheet-like structures in the ISM; it has been suggested that these are current sheets. Current sheets probably play an important role in heating the solar corona, and there is evidence for…
Magnetic reconnection before flux cancellation in the solar photosphere when two opposite-polarity photospheric magnetic fragments are approaching one another is usually modelled by assuming that a small so-called "floating current sheet"…
We examine the effect of an external guide field and current sheet thickness on the growth rates and nature of three dimensional unstable modes of an electron current sheet driven by electron shear flow. The growth rate of the fastest…
Current sheet is believed to be the region of energy dissipation via magnetic reconnection in solar flares. However, its properties, for example, the dynamic process, have not been fully understood. Here we report a current sheet in a solar…
Combined tearing-thermal evolution plays an important role in the disruption of current sheets, and formation of cool condensations within the solar atmosphere. However, this has received limited attention to date. We numerically explore a…
We analyze a series of three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic numerical simulations of magnetic reconnection in a model solar corona to study the effect of the guide field component on quasi-steady state interchange reconnection in a…
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…
Recent radioastronomical observations of Faraday rotation in the solar corona can be interpreted as evidence for coronal currents, with values as large as $2.5 \times 10^9$ Amperes (Spangler 2007). These estimates of currents are used to…
One proposed resolution to the long-standing problem of solar coronal heating involves the buildup of magnetic energy in the corona due to turbulent motions at the photosphere that braid the coronal field, and the subsequent release of this…
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…
The origin and evolution of the magnetic helicity in the solar corona are not well understood. For instance, the magnetic helicity of an active region is often about $10^{42}$ Mx$^2$ ($10^{26}$ Wb$^{2}$), but the observed processes whereby…
The recent realization that Sweet-Parker current sheets are violently unstable to the secondary tearing (plasmoid) instability implies that such current sheets cannot occur in real systems. This suggests that, in order to understand the…
Magnetic shear across the polarity inversion line (PIL) plays an important role in the explosive nature of reconnection onset and in the equilibration of current sheets, acting as a source of free energy that can enhance or inhibit the…
We present the results of a set of three-dimensional numerical simulations of magnetic flux emergence from below the photosphere into the corona that include a uniform and horizontal coronal magnetic field mimicking a pre-existing…