A magnetic avalanche as the central engine powering a solar flare

Solar flares are the most powerful, magnetically driven, explosions in the heliosphere. The nature of magnetic energy release in the solar corona that heats the plasma and accelerates particles in a flare, however, remains poorly understood. Here, we report high-resolution coronal observations of a flare by the Solar Orbiter mission that reveal initially weaker but rapid reconnection events, on timescales of a few seconds at most, leading to a more prominent activity of a similar nature that explosively causes a flare. Signatures of this process are further imprinted on the widespread raining plasma blobs with short lifetimes, giving rise to the characteristic ribbon-like emission pattern associated with the flare. Our observations unveil the central engine of a flare and emphasize the crucial role of an avalanche-like magnetic energy release mechanism at work.

Schlagwörter

Fachgebiet (DDC)

520 - Astronomie, Kartografie

Projekt

Veranstaltung

Startdatum der Ausstellung

Enddatum der Ausstellung

Startdatum der Konferenz

Enddatum der Konferenz

Datum der letzten Prüfung

ISBN

ISSN

0004-6361
1432-0746

Sprache

Englisch

Während FHNW Zugehörigkeit erstellt

Ja

Zukunftsfelder FHNW

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Begutachtung

Peer-Review der ganzen Publikation

Open Access-Status

Diamond

Lizenz

Zitation

Chitta, L. P., Pontin, D., Priest, E., Berghmans, D., Kraaikamp, E., Rodriguez, L., Verbeeck, C., Zhukov, A., Krucker, S., Cuadrado, R. A., Calchetti, D., Hirzberger, J., Peter, H., Schühle, U., Solanki, S. K., Teriaca, L., Giunta, A. S., Auchère, F., Harra, L., & Müller, D. (2026). A magnetic avalanche as the central engine powering a solar flare. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 705, A113. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202557253

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