Observational Evidence of Back Reaction on the Solar Surface Associated with Coronal Magnetic Restructuring in Solar Eruptions

Magnetic pressure dominates at low plasma beta. Thus extracting some of the field energy to power a flare must alter the structure of the corona. This would be seen as an implosion, as described in the most basic consequence - tilt - in this cartoon. It is reasonably self-explanatory: the postflare field has the same footpoints, but has collapsed and thereby released flare energy. The striking thing about the process is that the CME rather obviously is an explosion, rather than an implosion. Thus this cartoon describes the low corona only and the higher-lying field must expand at the same time.

      The use of "flux" in the cartoon legends here is a bit misleading, since presumably the actual flux is not itself changing, but rather the field intensity as a vector property.