Observations and modeling of magnetic reconnection driven by CME expansion
Lidia Van Driel-Gesztelyi  1, 2, 3@  , Deborah Baker  4@  , Tibor Torok  5@  , Jack Carlyle  6@  , Lucie Green  4@  , David Williams  1@  , Etienne Pariat  7@  
1 : UCL/MSSL  -  Website
Holmbury St. Mary Dorking Surrey RH5 6NT -  United Kingdom
2 : Konkoly Observatory  -  Website
1121 Budapest Konkoly-Thege Miklós út 15-17 -  Hungary
3 : Observatoire de Paris, LESIA  -  Website
Ob
5, place Jules Janssen 92195 Meudon Cedex -  France
4 : UCL/MSSL
Holmbury St Mary Dorking Surrey RH5 6NT -  United Kingdom
5 : Predictive Science Inc.  (PSI)
Predictive Science, Inc., 9990 Mesa Rim Rd., Suite 170, San Diego, CA 92121, USA -  United States
6 : UCL-MSSL  -  Website
Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, RH5 6NT -  United Kingdom
7 : Observatoire de Paris, LESIA  -  Website
O
5, place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon Cedex -  France

Observations from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory of an unusually massive filament eruption on 7 June 2011 provide for the very first time images of a magnetic reconnection region in the solar corona. The reconnection occurs at a current sheet that forms between the erupting magnetic structure and a neighbouring active region. This scenario is supported by a numerical simulation of the eruption. Dense, cool back-flowing filament plasma is observed to be re-directed and heated in situ, producing coronal-temperature emission around the reconnection region. These results provide the first direct observational evidence that a large-scale re-configuration of the coronal magnetic field takes place during solar eruptions via the process of magnetic reconnection.



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