EVIDENCE OF MAGNETIC RECONNECTION FROM Hα, SOFT X-RAY AND PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETIC FIELD OBSERVATIONS

Abstract

A conventional view of magnetic reconnection is mainly based on the 2-D picture of an X-type neutral point, or on the extension of it to 3-D, and it is thought to be accompanied by flux transport across separatrices (places where the field-line mapping is discontinuous). This view is too restrictive when we realize the variety of configurations that are seen flaring. We designed an algorithm, called Source Method (SM), to determine the magnetic topology of active regions (ARs). The observed photospheric field was extrapolated to the corona using subphotospheric sources and the topology was defined by the link between these sources. Hα flare brightenings were found to be located at the intersection with the chromosphere of the separatrices so defined. These results and the knowledge we gained on the properties of magnetic field-line linkage, led us to generalize the concept of separatrices to ‘quasi-separatrix layers’ (QSLs) and to design a new method (‘quasi-separatrix layers method’, QSLM) to determine the magnetic topology of ARs. QSLs are regions where the magnetic field-line linkage changes drastically (discontinuously when they behave like separatrices) and the QSLM can be applied to ARs where the photospheric field has been extrapolated using any kind of technique. In this paper we apply the QSLM to observed flaring regions presenting very different configurations and also to a decaying AR where a minor phenomenon, like an X-ray bright point (XBP), is observed. We find that the locations of flare and XBP brightenings are related to the properties of the field-line linkage of the underlying magnetic region, as expected from recent developments of 3-D magnetic reconnection. The extrapolated coronal field lines representing the structures involved in the analyzed events have their photospheric footpoints located at both sides of QSLs. Our results strongly support the hypothesis that magnetic reconnection is at work in various coronal phenomena, ranging from the less energetic ones to large-scale eruptions.