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      Toward a reconnection model for solar flare statistics

      Wheatland, M.S.; Craig, Ian J.D.
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      statistics.pdf
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      DOI
       10.1086/377254
      Link
       www.journals.uchicago.edu
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      Citation
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      Wheatland, M. S. & Craig, I. J. D. (2003). Toward a reconnection model for solar flare statistics. The Astrophysical Journal, 595 (1), 458- 464.
      Permanent Research Commons link: https://hdl.handle.net/10289/1382
      Abstract
      A model to account for observed solar flare statistics in terms of a superposition of independent random flaring elements (assumed to be sites of magnetic reconnection in the coronal magnetic field and hence termed “separators”) is described. A separator of length is assumed to flare as a Poisson process in time, with a rate v(l) inversely proportional to the Alfvén transit time for the structure. It is shown that a relationship ξ∞lk between the mean energy of events ξ at a separator and the separator length implies a relationship E∞Tk between individual waiting times τ and energies E of events at the separator. The most plausible K=2 model is found to be compatible with simple pictures for magnetohydrodynamic energy storage prior to magnetic reconnection in a current sheet with anomalous (turbulent) resistivity. Formal inversion of the observed flare frequency-energy distribution is shown to imply a distribution P(l) ∞l-1 of the separator lengths in active regions. A simulation confirms the basic results of the model. It is also demonstrated that a model comprising time-dependent separator numbers N=N(t) can reproduce an observed power-law tail in the flare waiting-time distribution, for large waiting times.
      Date
      2003-09
      Type
      Journal Article
      Publisher
      American Astronomical Society
      Rights
      This article has been published in the Astrophysical Journal. Copyright 2003 The American Astronomical Society.
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      • Computing and Mathematical Sciences Papers [1454]
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