@article{NiKliemLinetal.2015,
  author    = {Ni, Lei and Kliem, Bernhard and Lin, Jun and Wu, Ning},
  title     = {Fast magnetic reconnection in the solar chromosphere mediated by theplasmoid instability},
  series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics},
  volume    = {799},
  journal   = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.},
  address   = {Bristol},
  issn      = {0004-637X},
  doi       = {10.1088/0004-637X/799/1/79},
  pages     = {16},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Magnetic reconnection in the partially ionized solar chromosphere is studied in 2.5 dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations including radiative cooling and ambipolar diffusion. A Harris current sheet with and without a guide field is considered. Characteristic values of the parameters in the middle chromosphere imply a high magnetic Reynolds number of similar to 10(6)-10(7) in the present simulations. Fast magnetic reconnection then develops as a consequence of the plasmoid instability without the need to invoke anomalous resistivity enhancements. Multiple levels of the instability are followed as it cascades to smaller scales, which approach the ion inertial length. The reconnection rate, normalized to the asymptotic values of magnetic field and Alfven velocity in the inflow region, reaches values in the range similar to 0.01-0.03 throughout the cascading plasmoid formation and for zero as well as for strong guide field. The outflow velocity reaches approximate to 40 km s(-1). Slow-mode shocks extend from the X-points, heating the plasmoids up to similar to 8 x 10(4) K. In the case of zero guide field, the inclusion of both ambipolar diffusion and radiative cooling causes a rapid thinning of the current sheet (down to similar to 30 m) and early formation of secondary islands. Both of these processes have very little effect on the plasmoid instability for a strong guide field. The reconnection rates, temperature enhancements, and upward outflow velocities from the vertical current sheet correspond well to their characteristic values in chromospheric jets.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{vanDrielGesztelyiBakerToeroeketal.2014,
  author    = {van Driel-Gesztelyi, L. and Baker, Daniel N. and Toeroek, T. and Pariat, E. and Green, L. M. and Williams, D. R. and Carlyle, J. and Valori, G. and Demoulin, P. and Kliem, Bernhard and Long, D. M. and Matthews, S. A. and Malherbe, J. -M.},
  title     = {Coronal magnetic reconnection driven by CME expansion-the 2011 June 7 event},
  series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics},
  volume    = {788},
  journal   = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.},
  address   = {Bristol},
  issn      = {0004-637X},
  doi       = {10.1088/0004-637X/788/1/85},
  pages     = {12},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) erupt and expand in a magnetically structured solar corona. Various indirect observational pieces of evidence have shown that the magnetic field of CMEs reconnects with surrounding magnetic fields, forming, e.g., dimming regions distant from the CME source regions. Analyzing Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) observations of the eruption from AR 11226 on 2011 June 7, we present the first direct evidence of coronal magnetic reconnection between the fields of two adjacent active regions during a CME. The observations are presented jointly with a data-constrained numerical simulation, demonstrating the formation/intensification of current sheets along a hyperbolic flux tube at the interface between the CME and the neighboring AR 11227. Reconnection resulted in the formation of new magnetic connections between the erupting magnetic structure from AR 11226 and the neighboring active region AR 11227 about 200 Mm from the eruption site. The onset of reconnection first becomes apparent in the SDO/AIA images when filament plasma, originally contained within the erupting flux rope, is redirected toward remote areas in AR 11227, tracing the change of large-scale magnetic connectivity. The location of the coronal reconnection region becomes bright and directly observable at SDO/AIA wavelengths, owing to the presence of down-flowing cool, dense (1010 cm(-3)) filament plasma in its vicinity. The high-density plasma around the reconnection region is heated to coronal temperatures, presumably by slow-mode shocks and Coulomb collisions. These results provide the first direct observational evidence that CMEs reconnect with surrounding magnetic structures, leading to a large-scale reconfiguration of the coronal magnetic field.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{GreenKliemWallace2011,
  author    = {Green, Luci M. and Kliem, Bernhard and Wallace, A. J.},
  title     = {Photospheric flux cancellation and associated flux rope formation and eruption},
  series = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal},
  volume    = {526},
  journal   = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal},
  number    = {2},
  publisher = {EDP Sciences},
  address   = {Les Ulis},
  issn      = {0004-6361},
  doi       = {10.1051/0004-6361/201015146},
  pages     = {10},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {Aims. We study an evolving bipolar active region that exhibits flux cancellation at the internal polarity inversion line, the formation of a soft X-ray sigmoid along the inversion line and a coronal mass ejection. The aim is to investigate the quantity of flux cancellation that is involved in flux rope formation in the time period leading up to the eruption. Methods. The active region is studied using its extreme ultraviolet and soft X-ray emissions as it evolves from a sheared arcade to flux rope configuration. The evolution of the photospheric magnetic field is described and used to estimate how much flux is reconnected into the flux rope. Results. About one third of the active region flux cancels at the internal polarity inversion line in the 2.5 days leading up to the eruption. In this period, the coronal structure evolves from a weakly to a highly sheared arcade and then to a sigmoid that crosses the inversion line in the inverse direction. These properties suggest that a flux rope has formed prior to the eruption. The amount of cancellation implies that up to 60\% of the active region flux could be in the body of the flux rope. We point out that only part of the cancellation contributes to the flux in the rope if the arcade is only weakly sheared, as in the first part of the evolution. This reduces the estimated flux in the rope to similar to 30\% or less of the active region flux. We suggest that the remaining discrepancy between our estimate and the limiting value of similar to 10\% of the active region flux, obtained previously by the flux rope insertion method, results from the incomplete coherence of the flux rope, due to nonuniform cancellation along the polarity inversion line. A hot linear feature is observed in the active region which rises as part of the eruption and then likely traces out the field lines close to the axis of the flux rope. The flux cancellation and changing magnetic connections at one end of this feature suggest that the flux rope reaches coherence by reconnection immediately before and early in the impulsive phase of the associated flare. The sigmoid is destroyed in the eruption but reforms quickly, with the amount of cancellation involved being much smaller than in the course of its original formation.},
  language  = {en}
}