2019/03/19 by Loukas Vlahos, L. Vlahos, Anastasios Anastasiadis +5
Physics and Astronomy · #Acceleration #Astrobiology #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Classical mechanics #Corona (planetary geology) #Coronal mass ejection #Current sheet #Explosive material #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Geography #Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics #Magnetic reconnection #Magnetohydrodynamics #Nanoflares #Particle acceleration #Physics #Plasma #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Solar flare #Solar wind #Space weather #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.1098/rsta.2018.0095
Accepted at Philosophical Transactions A, 2019
arxiv created 2019/03/19 · openalex publication_date 2019/05/13 · arxiv updated 2019/06/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Solar energetic particles are an integral part of the physical processes related with space weather. We present a review for the acceleration mechanisms related to the explosive phenomena (flares and/or coronal mass ejections, CMEs) inside the solar corona. For more than 40 years, the main two-dimensional cartoon representing our understanding of the explosive phenomena inside the solar corona remained almost unchanged. The acceleration mechanisms related to solar flares and CMEs also remained unchanged and were part of the same cartoon. In this review, we revise the standard cartoon and present evidence from recent global magnetohydrodynamic simulations that support the argument that explosive phenomena will lead to the spontaneous formation of current sheets in different parts of the erupting magnetic structure. The evolution of the large-scale current sheets and their fragmentation will lead to strong turbulence and turbulent reconnection during solar flares and turbulent shocks. In other words, the acceleration mechanism in flares and CME-driven shocks may be the same, and their difference will be the overall magnetic topology, the ambient plasma parameters, and the duration of the unstable driver. This article is part of the theme issue 'Solar eruptions and their space weather impact'.