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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2025-01-01
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adcf1c |
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| author | Xiuhui Zuo Zhenghua Huang Hengyuan Wei Chao Zhang Boyu Sun Youqian Qi Hui Fu Weixin Liu Mingzhe Sun Ming Xiong Lidong Xia |
| author_facet | Xiuhui Zuo Zhenghua Huang Hengyuan Wei Chao Zhang Boyu Sun Youqian Qi Hui Fu Weixin Liu Mingzhe Sun Ming Xiong Lidong Xia |
| author_sort | Xiuhui Zuo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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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| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
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| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-9208e500790945eab39a0b5dea73ddf62025-08-20T02:57:44ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-0198511710.3847/1538-4357/adcf1cSequential Ejections of Plasma Blobs Due to Unbraiding of Tangled Loops in the Solar AtmosphereXiuhui Zuo0https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0978-4277Zhenghua Huang1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2358-5377Hengyuan Wei2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0210-6365Chao Zhang3Boyu Sun4Youqian Qi5Hui Fu6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8827-9311Weixin Liu7Mingzhe Sun8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1631-9898Ming Xiong9https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9427-7366Lidong Xia10https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8938-1038Shandong Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, Shandong, People’s Republic of China ; z.huang@sdu.edu.cn; State Key Laboratory of Solar Activity and Space Weather, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, People’s Republic of ChinaShandong Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, Shandong, People’s Republic of China ; z.huang@sdu.edu.cn; State Key Laboratory of Solar Activity and Space Weather, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, People’s Republic of ChinaShandong Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, Shandong, People’s Republic of China ; z.huang@sdu.edu.cnShandong Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, Shandong, People’s Republic of China ; z.huang@sdu.edu.cnShandong Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, Shandong, People’s Republic of China ; z.huang@sdu.edu.cnShandong Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, Shandong, People’s Republic of China ; z.huang@sdu.edu.cnShandong Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, Shandong, People’s Republic of China ; z.huang@sdu.edu.cnShandong Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, Shandong, People’s Republic of China ; z.huang@sdu.edu.cnShandong Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, Shandong, People’s Republic of China ; z.huang@sdu.edu.cnState Key Laboratory of Solar Activity and Space Weather, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, People’s Republic of China; College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of ChinaShandong Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, Shandong, People’s Republic of China ; z.huang@sdu.edu.cnNanoflares, 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.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adcf1cSolar atmosphereSolar coronal heatingSolar transition regionSolar coronal loopsSolar coronaSolar magnetic reconnection |
| spellingShingle | Xiuhui Zuo Zhenghua Huang Hengyuan Wei Chao Zhang Boyu Sun Youqian Qi Hui Fu Weixin Liu Mingzhe Sun Ming Xiong Lidong Xia Sequential Ejections of Plasma Blobs Due to Unbraiding of Tangled Loops in the Solar Atmosphere The Astrophysical Journal Solar atmosphere Solar coronal heating Solar transition region Solar coronal loops Solar corona Solar magnetic reconnection |
| title | Sequential Ejections of Plasma Blobs Due to Unbraiding of Tangled Loops in the Solar Atmosphere |
| title_full | Sequential Ejections of Plasma Blobs Due to Unbraiding of Tangled Loops in the Solar Atmosphere |
| title_fullStr | Sequential Ejections of Plasma Blobs Due to Unbraiding of Tangled Loops in the Solar Atmosphere |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sequential Ejections of Plasma Blobs Due to Unbraiding of Tangled Loops in the Solar Atmosphere |
| title_short | Sequential Ejections of Plasma Blobs Due to Unbraiding of Tangled Loops in the Solar Atmosphere |
| title_sort | sequential ejections of plasma blobs due to unbraiding of tangled loops in the solar atmosphere |
| topic | Solar atmosphere Solar coronal heating Solar transition region Solar coronal loops Solar corona Solar magnetic reconnection |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adcf1c |
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