2012/03/20 by J. Zhang, Jie Zhang, Xin Cheng +3 · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrobiology #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Corona (planetary geology) #Coronal mass ejection #Current sheet #Explosive material #Flare #Flux (metallurgy) #Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics #Magnetic field #Magnetic flux #Magnetic reconnection #Magnetohydrodynamics #Magnetosphere #Materials science #Nanoflares #Physics #Plasma #Rope #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Solar flare #Solar wind #astro-ph.EP #astro-ph.HE #astro-ph.SR #physics.plasm-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/ncomms1753
published as Nature Communications. 3 : 747, 2012 · 13 pages, 3 figures
openalex publication_date 2012/03/20 · arxiv created 2012/03/22 · arxiv updated 2012/03/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Explosive energy release is a common phenomenon occurring in magnetized plasma systems ranging from laboratories, Earth's magnetosphere, the solar corona and astrophysical environments. Its physical explanation is usually attributed to magnetic reconnection in a thin current sheet. Here we report the important role of magnetic flux rope structure, a volumetric current channel, in producing explosive events. The flux rope is observed as a hot channel prior to and during a solar eruption from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) telescope on board the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO). It initially appears as a twisted and writhed sigmoidal structure with a temperature as high as 10 MK and then transforms toward a semi-circular shape during a slow rise phase, which is followed by fast acceleration and onset of a flare. The observations suggest that the instability of the magnetic flux rope trigger the eruption, thus making a major addition to the traditional magnetic-reconnection paradigm.