Formation and eruption of a small flux rope in the chromosphere observed by NST, IRIS, and SDO

Using high-resolution images from the 1.6 m New Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory, we report the direct evidence of chromospheric reconnection at the polarity inversion line between two small opposite polarity sunspots. Small jetlike structures (with velocities of ∼20-55 km s^-1) were observed at the reconnection site before the onset of the first M1.0 flare. The slow rise of untwisting jets was followed by the onset of cool plasma inflow (∼10 km s^-1) at the reconnection site, causing the onset of a two-ribbon flare. The reconnection between two sheared J-shaped cool Hα loops causes the formation of a small twisted (S-shaped) flux rope in the chromosphere. In addition, Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager magnetograms show the flux cancellation (both positive and negative) during the first M1.0 flare. The emergence of negative flux and the cancellation of positive flux (with shear flows) continue until the successful eruption of the flux rope. The newly formed chromospheric flux rope becomes unstable and rises slowly with a speed of ∼108 km s^-1 during a second C8.5 flare that occurred after ∼3 hr of the first M1.0 flare. The flux rope was destroyed by repeated magnetic reconnection induced by its interaction with the ambient field (fan-spine topology) and looks like an untwisting surge (∼170 km s^-1) in the coronal images recorded by the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly. These observations suggest the formation of a chromospheric flux rope (by magnetic reconnection associated with flux cancellation) during the first M1.0 flare and its subsequent eruption/disruption during the second C8.5 flare.