HR: 11:05h
AN: SM32A-03 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Quantifying Magnetic Reconnection in the Solar Corona
AU: * Longcope, D W
EM: dana@solar.physics.montana.edu
AF: Montana State University, Dept. of Physics Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717 United States
AB: Magnetic reconnection is believed to play a role in many aspects of solar activity including flares, CMEs and quiet sun brightenings. The process itself is fundamentally a change field line topology resulting from some non-ideal term in the generalized Ohm's law such as collisional resistivity or electron inertia. Such non-ideal effects may or may not dissipate energy directly but do produce topological field line changes at a rate proportional to the non-ideal electric field. The rate of magnetic reconnection can be measured by quantifying the number of field lines topologically changed over time. Chromospheric flare ribbons are believed to reflect the footpoints of topological boundaries; ribbon motion across photopsheric flux is therefore used to infer reconnection rates. Topology of individual X-ray or EUV coronal loops can be unambiguously defined when the photopsheric field is composed of distinct source regions to which footpoints may be assigned. Reconnection occurs as flux is transfered between these topological regions, and the rate is found by quantifying this change. Several measurements of this type have been made, quantifying reconnection rates in the quiet sun and non-flaring active region evolution. This work was funded by NASA and NSF.
DE: 7509 Corona
DE: 7519 Flares
DE: 7524 Magnetic fields
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly