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Numerical study of line-tied magnetic reconnection

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Abstract

A two-dimensional configuration, analogous to that at the start of the main phase in two-ribbon flares, is modelled numerically by self-consistently solving the time-dependent MHD equations. The initial state consists of a vertical current sheet with an external plasma beta value of 0.1 and a magnetic Reynolds number of 10−3. Although the model does not yet include gravity or a full energy equation, many of the principal dynamical features of the main phase in a flare are present. In particular, the numerical results confirm the earlier prediction of the kinematic Kopp-Pneuman (1976) model that a neutral line forms at the base of the corona and rises upwards as open, extended field lines close back down to form loops (i.e., ‘post’-flare loops). By the end of the computation a state of nonlinear reconnection containing slow shocks has developed, and the velocity of the plasma flowing into the neutral line region is approximately 0.06 times the corresponding inflow Alfvén velocity - a value consistent with the steady-state nonlinear reconnection theory of Soward and Priest (1977). The speed at which the neutral line rises in the numerical simulation varies from an initial value of ≲ 0.02 to a final value of ∼- 0.12 times the inflow Alfvén speed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Applied Mathematics, The University, St. Andrews, Scotland

    T. G. Forbes & E. R. Priest

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  1. T. G. Forbes
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  2. E. R. Priest
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Forbes, T.G., Priest, E.R. Numerical study of line-tied magnetic reconnection. Sol Phys 81, 303–324 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00151304

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