Sequential Ejections of Plasma Blobs Due to Unbraiding of Tangled Loops in the Solar Atmosphere
Nanoflares, which are consequences of braids in tangled magnetic fields, are an important candidate to heat the solar corona to a million degrees. However, their observational evidence is sparse, and many of their observational characteristics are yet to be discovered. With the high-resolution obser...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adcf1c |
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| Summary: | Nanoflares, which are consequences of braids in tangled magnetic fields, are an important candidate to heat the solar corona to a million degrees. However, their observational evidence is sparse, and many of their observational characteristics are yet to be discovered. With the high-resolution observations taken by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager onboard the Solar Orbiter, here we study a series of ejections of plasma blobs resulting from braided magnetic loops in the upper transition region and reveal some critical characteristics of such processes. The cores of these ejections have a size of about 700 km, a duration of less than 1 minute, and a speed of about 90 km s ^−1 . An important characteristic is that these plasma blobs are apparently constrained by the postreconnection magnetic loops, along which they show an extension of up to about 2000 km. The propagation of unbraiding nodes along the main axis of the tangled loops has a speed of about 45 km s ^−1 . The separation angles between the postreconnection loops and the main axis of the tangled loops are about 30°. The observations from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly reveal that the braiding loops are upper transition region structures. Based on these observations, the typical magnetic free energy producing a blob is estimated to be about 3.4 × 10 ^23 erg, well in the nanoflare regime, while the kinematic energy of a blob is about 2.3 × 10 ^23 erg, suggesting that a majority of magnetic free energy in a magnetic braid is likely transferred into kinematic energy. |
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| ISSN: | 1538-4357 |