ISSN:
1089-7674
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
Notes:
Major objections are raised to the fundamental paradigm underlying conventional solar flare theory, viz., that the required free energy can be stored in situ at the requisite density in the corona in nonpotential magnetic fields by the action of photospheric convective motion, that it can be released rapidly through magnetic reconnection by a triggering event, and that a significant fraction of this energy is converted to x rays. An alternative explanation that avoids these difficulties requires that magnetic energy in the form of strongly sheared flux tubes be stored subphotospherically prior to the flare. It is the emergence of this subphotospherically stored magnetic shear energy into the photosphere and above, and its rapid conversion through internal magnetic reconnection to other forms that constitutes an actual flare. © 1997 American Institute of Physics.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.872572
