No CrossRef data available.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2017
Until recently magnetic reconnection in solar flares was discussed simplistically in terms of either a spontaneous tearing mode instability or a driven Petschek mode. Now the subtle relationship between these two extremes is much better understood. Current sheets may form and reconnection may be initiated in many different ways. There are also a variety of nonlinear pathways from a reconnection instability and several types of driven reconnection.
In solar flares current sheets may be important as new flux emerges from below the photosphere and also as a magnetic arcade closes down after being blown open by an eruptive instability. Numerical simulations of these sheets will be described, including new features such as the presence of a fast shock in Petschek's mechanism and impulsive bursty reconnection due to secondary tearing and coalescence.