TY - JOUR
T1 - Decay of the coronal magnetic field can release sufficient energy to power a solar flare
AU - Fleishman, Gregory D.
AU - Gary, Dale E.
AU - Chen, Bin
AU - Kuroda, Natsuha
AU - Yu, Sijie
AU - Nita, Gelu M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/1/17
Y1 - 2020/1/17
N2 - Solar flares are powered by a rapid release of energy in the solar corona, thought to be produced by the decay of the coronal magnetic field strength. Direct quantitative measurements of the evolving magnetic field strength are required to test this. We report microwave observations of a solar flare, showing spatial and temporal changes in the coronal magnetic field. The field decays at a rate of ~5 Gauss per second for 2 minutes, as measured within a flare subvolume of ~1028 cubic centimeters. This fast rate of decay implies a sufficiently strong electric field to account for the particle acceleration that produces the microwave emission. The decrease in stored magnetic energy is enough to power the solar flare, including the associated eruption, particle acceleration, and plasma heating.
AB - Solar flares are powered by a rapid release of energy in the solar corona, thought to be produced by the decay of the coronal magnetic field strength. Direct quantitative measurements of the evolving magnetic field strength are required to test this. We report microwave observations of a solar flare, showing spatial and temporal changes in the coronal magnetic field. The field decays at a rate of ~5 Gauss per second for 2 minutes, as measured within a flare subvolume of ~1028 cubic centimeters. This fast rate of decay implies a sufficiently strong electric field to account for the particle acceleration that produces the microwave emission. The decrease in stored magnetic energy is enough to power the solar flare, including the associated eruption, particle acceleration, and plasma heating.
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U2 - 10.1126/science.aax6874
DO - 10.1126/science.aax6874
M3 - Article
C2 - 31949076
AN - SCOPUS:85077941415
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 367
SP - 278
EP - 280
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 6475
ER -