The Solar Decimetric Spike Burst of 2006 December 6: Possible Evidence for Field-aligned Potential Drops in Post-eruption Loops

A rather badly drawn cartoon, in the usual CSHKP genre; not particularly realistic from the point of view of geometry. Blame the stubby pencil! One would also not really have tangential field lines, of course, as this cartoon depicts at the top of the closed loops. On the other hand, the Sun is nice and yellow.

      But this is great stuff! Note the implication of a parallel electric field, a distinct no-no in ideal MHD since there is no charge separation (or electric charge at all). Also note the reference to ECM (electron cyclotron maser) activity. often implicated in discussions of elemental abundances. The cartoon unfortunately implies that there would be particle acceleration at the point of reconnection, which cannot be realistic, but this is not fundamental to the conclusions.