Spectroscopic Detection of Turbulence in Post-CME Current Sheets
Bemporad, A., Spectroscopic Detection of Turbulence in Post-CME Current Sheets, ApJ, 689, 572-584 (2008) (ADS)
(click on the image for a larger version)
At the time of acquisition of this cartoon, there were
a few good examples of hot (Fe XVIII) thin structures observed by the
pioneering UVCS instrument on SOHO.
These, in the wakes of CME eruptions, lent strong support for the
CSHKP "standard flare" cartoon.
However there is nothing about an MHD theory suggesting that any such
thing should be detectable.
A current sheet, in MHD, is a singularity with vanishingly small emission
measure.
If MHD theory is not correct, then maybe it's possible to have a "Mesoscale
Current Sheet," the subject of this paper and this cartoon.
See also the Rainbow Flare model for how
to reconcile this with a thick turbulent current or a
"quasi-separatrix layer".
This may be the most awkward way to describe a current sheet in a cartoon,
but the published paper has other items to clarify things. This is a view
along the field in a simple antiparallel field geometry, with
tiny random current sheets to represent "turbulence" and thence to get a handle
on a non-singular structure that might contain hot plasma.
See also the bubbles in the W. Liu
cartoon elsewhere in the Archive.
The idea of elementary random current sheets also appears in the
Vlahos canon, following on from
the fundamental Parker declaration.
At the time of acquisition of this cartoon, there were a few good examples of hot (Fe XVIII) thin structures observed by the pioneering UVCS instrument on SOHO. These, in the wakes of CME eruptions, lent strong support for the CSHKP "standard flare" cartoon. However there is nothing about an MHD theory suggesting that any such thing should be detectable. A current sheet, in MHD, is a singularity with vanishingly small emission measure. If MHD theory is not correct, then maybe it's possible to have a "Mesoscale Current Sheet," the subject of this paper and this cartoon. See also the Rainbow Flare model for how to reconcile this with a thick turbulent current or a "quasi-separatrix layer".
This may be the most awkward way to describe a current sheet in a cartoon, but the published paper has other items to clarify things. This is a view along the field in a simple antiparallel field geometry, with tiny random current sheets to represent "turbulence" and thence to get a handle on a non-singular structure that might contain hot plasma. See also the bubbles in the W. Liu cartoon elsewhere in the Archive. The idea of elementary random current sheets also appears in the Vlahos canon, following on from the fundamental Parker declaration.