St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  • Register / Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Particle acceleration due to coronal non-null magnetic reconnection

Thumbnail
View/Open
Threlfall_2017_Particle_SolarPhys_45_CC.pdf (4.428Mb)
Date
03/2017
Author
Threlfall, James William
Neukirch, Thomas
Parnell, Clare Elizabeth
Funder
Science & Technology Facilities Council
Science & Technology Facilities Council
Grant ID
ST/N000609/1
ST/K000950/1
Keywords
Energetic particles, acceleration
Magnetic reconnection, observational signatures
Magnetic reconnection, theory
Magnetic fields, corona
Flares, relation to magnetic field
QB Astronomy
QC Physics
NDAS
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
Various topological features, for example magnetic null-points and separators, have been inferred as likely sites of magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration in the solar atmosphere. In fact, magnetic reconnection is not constrained to solely take place at or near such topological features and may also take place in the absence of such features. Studies of particle acceleration using non-topological reconnection experiments embedded in the solar atmosphere are uncommon. We aim to investigate and characterise particle behaviour in a model of magnetic reconnection which causes an arcade of solar coronal magnetic field to twist and form an erupting flux rope, crucially in the absence of any common topological features where reconnection is often thought to occur. We use a numerical scheme which evolves the gyro-averaged orbit equations of single electrons and protons in time and space, and simulate the gyromotion of particles in a fully analytical global field model. We observe and discuss how the magnetic and electric fields of the model and the initial conditions of each orbit may lead to acceleration of protons and electrons up to 2 MeV in energy (depending on model parameters). We describe the morphology of time-dependent acceleration and impact sites for each particle species and compare our findings to those recovered by topologically based studies of three-dimensional (3D) reconnection and particle acceleration. We also broadly compare aspects of our findings to general observational features typically seen during two-ribbon flare events.
Citation
Threlfall , J W , Neukirch , T & Parnell , C E 2017 , ' Particle acceleration due to coronal non-null magnetic reconnection ' , Solar Physics , vol. 292 , 45 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-017-1060-0
Publication
Solar Physics
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-017-1060-0
ISSN
0038-0938
Type
Journal article
Rights
© The Author(s) 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/10551

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Related items

Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

  • Nanoscale investigation of superconductivity and magnetism using neutrons and muons 

    Ray, Soumya Jyoti (University of St Andrews, 2012-06) - Thesis
    The work presented in this thesis was broadly focussed on the investigation of the magnetic behaviour of different superconducting materials in the form of bulk (single crystals and pellets) and thin films (nanomagnetic ...
  • The dynamic topology of the solar corona : mapping the Sun’s three dimensional magnetic skeleton 

    Williams, Benjamin Matthew (University of St Andrews, 2018-06-26) - Thesis
    Observations of the surface of the Sun reveal multi-scaled, mixed magnetic features that carpet the entire solar surface. Not surprisingly, the global magnetic fields extrapolated from these observations are highly ...
  • Analytical three-dimensional magnetohydrostatic equilibrium solutions for magnetic field extrapolation allowing a transition from non-force-free to force-free magnetic fields 

    Neukirch, Thomas; Wiegelmann, Thomas (2019) - Journal article
    For the extrapolation of magnetic fields into the solar corona from measurements taken in the photosphere (or chromosphere) force-free magnetic fields are typically used. This does not take into account that the lower ...
Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter