Oscillatory Magnetic Reconnection at a Coronal Bright Point
Coronal bright points (CBPs) are typical small-scale coronal brightenings that consist of a bundle of miniature coronal loops. Using the ultrahigh-resolution coronal images from the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager on board Solar Orbiter, we report the first observational evidence of oscillatory magnetic...
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2025-01-01
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/addda9 |
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| author | Junchao Hong Jiayan Yang Yi Bi Bo Yang |
| author_facet | Junchao Hong Jiayan Yang Yi Bi Bo Yang |
| author_sort | Junchao Hong |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Coronal bright points (CBPs) are typical small-scale coronal brightenings that consist of a bundle of miniature coronal loops. Using the ultrahigh-resolution coronal images from the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager on board Solar Orbiter, we report the first observational evidence of oscillatory magnetic reconnection at a CBP. The reconnection is characterized by two bursty phases defined by a reconnection reversal. In the first phase, a current sheet (C1) was found to form in front of an expanding loop of the bright point. Interestingly, C1 shortened to a null point during 10 minutes after reaching its maximum length (∼2.4 Mm). Less than 3 minutes later, a new current sheet (C2) was clearly seen to grow out from the null point, but along an orthogonal direction relative to C1. C2 reached a maximum length of ∼4 Mm in 10 minutes and then became short and invisible in the next few minutes as the reconnection declined. The magnetic reconnection is evidenced by the brightening, plasma flow, and temperature increase at the ends of both C1 and C2. No significant magnetic cancellation or emergence but gradual convergence occurred during the few hours before the reconnection underneath the CBP. The transition from C1 to C2 suggests the occurrence of coronal oscillatory reconnection, whereby the inflow and outflow regions in the first phase become the outflow and inflow regions in the second phase, respectively. It is further found that the oscillatory reconnection could slightly modulate the change in brightness of the CBP. We propose that oscillatory reconnection has the potential to continuously heat solar small-scale structures without destroying their overall magnetic configurations. |
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| institution | Kabale University |
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| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
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| spelling | doaj-art-5861051c4d9348a28a18b0bda1f0e9c82025-08-20T03:30:39ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01986219710.3847/1538-4357/addda9Oscillatory Magnetic Reconnection at a Coronal Bright PointJunchao Hong0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3804-7395Jiayan Yang1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3462-4340Yi Bi2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5302-3404Bo Yang3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1322-9061Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Kunming 650216, People’s Republic of China ; hjcsolar@ynao.ac.cn, yjy@ynao.ac.cnYunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Kunming 650216, People’s Republic of China ; hjcsolar@ynao.ac.cn, yjy@ynao.ac.cnYunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Kunming 650216, People’s Republic of China ; hjcsolar@ynao.ac.cn, yjy@ynao.ac.cn; Yunnan Key Laboratory of Solar Physics and Space Science , Kunming 650216, People’s Republic of ChinaYunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Kunming 650216, People’s Republic of China ; hjcsolar@ynao.ac.cn, yjy@ynao.ac.cn; Yunnan Key Laboratory of Solar Physics and Space Science , Kunming 650216, People’s Republic of ChinaCoronal bright points (CBPs) are typical small-scale coronal brightenings that consist of a bundle of miniature coronal loops. Using the ultrahigh-resolution coronal images from the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager on board Solar Orbiter, we report the first observational evidence of oscillatory magnetic reconnection at a CBP. The reconnection is characterized by two bursty phases defined by a reconnection reversal. In the first phase, a current sheet (C1) was found to form in front of an expanding loop of the bright point. Interestingly, C1 shortened to a null point during 10 minutes after reaching its maximum length (∼2.4 Mm). Less than 3 minutes later, a new current sheet (C2) was clearly seen to grow out from the null point, but along an orthogonal direction relative to C1. C2 reached a maximum length of ∼4 Mm in 10 minutes and then became short and invisible in the next few minutes as the reconnection declined. The magnetic reconnection is evidenced by the brightening, plasma flow, and temperature increase at the ends of both C1 and C2. No significant magnetic cancellation or emergence but gradual convergence occurred during the few hours before the reconnection underneath the CBP. The transition from C1 to C2 suggests the occurrence of coronal oscillatory reconnection, whereby the inflow and outflow regions in the first phase become the outflow and inflow regions in the second phase, respectively. It is further found that the oscillatory reconnection could slightly modulate the change in brightness of the CBP. We propose that oscillatory reconnection has the potential to continuously heat solar small-scale structures without destroying their overall magnetic configurations.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/addda9Solar coronaSolar magnetic reconnection |
| spellingShingle | Junchao Hong Jiayan Yang Yi Bi Bo Yang Oscillatory Magnetic Reconnection at a Coronal Bright Point The Astrophysical Journal Solar corona Solar magnetic reconnection |
| title | Oscillatory Magnetic Reconnection at a Coronal Bright Point |
| title_full | Oscillatory Magnetic Reconnection at a Coronal Bright Point |
| title_fullStr | Oscillatory Magnetic Reconnection at a Coronal Bright Point |
| title_full_unstemmed | Oscillatory Magnetic Reconnection at a Coronal Bright Point |
| title_short | Oscillatory Magnetic Reconnection at a Coronal Bright Point |
| title_sort | oscillatory magnetic reconnection at a coronal bright point |
| topic | Solar corona Solar magnetic reconnection |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/addda9 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT junchaohong oscillatorymagneticreconnectionatacoronalbrightpoint AT jiayanyang oscillatorymagneticreconnectionatacoronalbrightpoint AT yibi oscillatorymagneticreconnectionatacoronalbrightpoint AT boyang oscillatorymagneticreconnectionatacoronalbrightpoint |