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Solar flares and plasma instabilities: Observations, mechanisms and experiments

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Abstract

In this review the plasma-physics basis for the solar flare phenomenon is treated from three different perspectives. The discussion begins at the sun with a brief enumeration of the plasma-relevant observations and what they indicate about ambient physical conditions and possible flare mechanisms. Next, theoretical descriptions are presented of several models which have been suggested to explain these characteristics, with particular emphasis given to those processes involving magnetic field reconnection. In this context resistive tearing, the most pervasive slow magnetohydrodynamic instability, is treated at some length, and its time-scale and energy-output properties are described. Finally, the discussion ends in the laboratory, with a review of the progress of a number of experiments designed to simulate solar flares.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of California, 92717, Irvine, Calif., USA

    Gerard Van Hoven

  2. Center for Astrophysics, Harvard and Smithsonian Observatories, 02138, Cambridge, Mass, USA

    Gerard Van Hoven

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  1. Gerard Van Hoven
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Van Hoven, G. Solar flares and plasma instabilities: Observations, mechanisms and experiments. Sol Phys 49, 95–116 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00221488

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00221488

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