A Mechanism for Bulk Energization in the Impulsive Phase of Solar Flares: MHD Turbulent Cascade

Larosa, T. N. and R. L. Moore, A Mechanism for Bulk Energization in the Impulsive Phase of Solar Flares: MHD Turbulent Cascade, ApJ, 418, 912 (1993) (ADS)

The cartoon

(click on the image for a larger version)

This is only an eye-grabbing part of the original cartoon, which also included a tedious repetition of the standard Moore cartoon. The part presented here shows a top view of two fat flux tubes reconnecting in a 3D geometry; the larger of the top two circles would be in the foreground, and the smaller in the background. The intricately drawn whorls show where turbulence would appear in the termination of the outflow jet, with a maximum scale at the dimension of the the discrete reconnecting flux tube. The cartoon shows this as ℓ0.

      The key reason for this cartoon, of course, is to pinpoint the source of electron energization (extreme heating or acceleration). In the CSHKP cartoon genre, this is omitted, partly perhaps because of its identification with particle acceleration and the need to work within the MHD framework, which has no particles to accelerate. The issues involved with this remain to be solved, but this cartoon seems to have taken a step forward with the concepts.

Similar ideas along these lines were published by K. Tanaka and others.

Date: 2012 May 11

Update: 2019 November 25