Effects of reconnection on the coronal mass ejection process

Lin, J. and T. G. Forbes, Effects of reconnection on the coronal mass ejection process, Journal of Geophysical Research, 105, 2375-2392 (2000) (ADS)

The cartoon

(click on the image for a larger version)

Yet another CSHKP entry in the Archive, mysteriously with more citations than some of the Founding Papers. This has most of the bells and whistles neatly labeled, so it is a good example to illustrate this way of thinking. And, it has catchy coloring. I do not see the hypothetical fast shock(s) at the termination of the hypothetical reconnection outflow, nor the hypothetical dimple that might appear in the closed fields, and there are other ways in which this cartoon misses the observational realities; but I believe that this is because the theory was not capable of real prediction at this stage. That must be one reason that this long-running cartoon series (CSHKP) keeps getting tweaked.

      The label "Mach 2 jet" is not incorrect from the model point of view, although of course it has never been observed.

Date: 2003 July 14

Update: 2019 November 25