Abstract
A new treatment of the energetics of resistive magnetic tearing is presented. This instability is the only known field-reconnection mechanism which develops in time, and is thus a primary candidate for a number of astrophysical 'flare' processes occurring in stressed magnetic fields. The tearing process is elucidated by a subdivision into magnetic regions of different characteristics: first, as dominated by resistive or highly conductive dynamics, and then by function as a source or sink of the energy flux. Matching conditions between these zones provide a determination of the growth rate and its physical-parameter dependence. The observable plasma energy outputs, due mainly to two distinct magnetically driven acceleration mechanisms, are estimated and their directive spatial properties shown. Finally, the generality of resistive tearing is demonstrated by an application of the previous considerations to realistic sheared-field configurations, including the case of a solar coronal loop, for which flare-instability thresholds and energy-deposition sites are described.
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