Transition-region explosive events: Reconnection modulated by p-mode waves

P. F. Chen, E. R. Priest

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

104 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Transition-region explosive events (TREEs) have long been proposed as a consequence of magnetic reconnection. However, several critical issues have not been well addressed, such as the location of the reconnection site, their unusually short lifetime (about one minute), and the recently discovered repetitive behaviour with a period of three to five minutes. In this paper, we perform MHD numerical simulations of magnetic reconnection, where the effect of five-minute solar p-mode oscillations is examined. UV emission lines are synthesised on the basis of numerical results in order to compare with observations directly. It is found that several typical and puzzling features of the TREEs with impulsive bursty behaviour can only be explained if there exist p-mode oscillations and the reconnection site is located in the upper chromosphere at a height range of around 1900 km < h < 2150 km above the solar surface. Furthermore, the lack of proper motions of the high-velocity ejection may be due to a rapid change of temperature along the reconnection ejecta.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)313-327
Number of pages15
JournalSolar Physics
Volume238
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2006

Keywords

  • CONVERGING FLUX MODEL
  • RAY BRIGHT POINT
  • SOLAR ATMOSPHERE
  • MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
  • QUIET SUN
  • NUMERICAL-SIMULATION
  • ERUPTIVE ACTIVITY
  • ATOMIC DATABASE
  • 2D ENVIRONMENT
  • EMISSION-LINES

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