Hard X-Ray Intensity Distribution along H𝛼 Ribbons

Jing, Ju, Jeongwoo Lee, Chang Liu, Dale E. Gary, and Haimin Wang, Hard X-Ray Intensity Distribution along H𝛼 Ribbons, ApJ, 664, L127-L130 (2007) (ADS)

The cartoon

(click on the image for a larger version)

Yet another cartoon in the CSHKP genre (could there possibly be something to this?), but one accompanying intelligent remarks about the role of the third dimension. This has always been the conceptual stumbling block for the development, since it really appears that flares begin with closed fields - essentially unidirectional - and not with antiparallel ones. Surprisingly, the observations leading to this cartoon were interpreted exactly oppositely to the Archivist's intuition: the assertion is that the early footpoints follow the 2D pattern better than the later ones. But in any case this and much other recent work encouragingly break away from the 2D picture and its inherent flaws.

Date: 2008 August 03

Update: 2019 November 24