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| Paper: |
Observations of Simultaneous Coronal Loop Shrinkage and Expansion during the Decay Phase of a Solar Flare |
| Volume: |
369, New Solar Physics with Solar-B Mission |
| Page: |
485 |
| Authors: |
Khan, J.I.; Fletcher, L.; Nitta, N.V. |
| Abstract: |
We report what we believe are the first direct and unambiguous observations of simultaneous coronal magnetic flux loop shrinkage and expansion during the decay phase of a solar flare. The retracting and expanding loops were observed nearly face-on (i.e., with the loop major axis approximately orthogonal to the line of sight) in emission in imaging data from the Yohkoh Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT). The retracting loop is observed to shrink with a speed of 165±26 km s−1. The faint outward moving loop-like feature occurred ~200″ above the shrinking loop during the time of the shrinking loop. We estimate the speed of the outward moving loop was ~280±130 km s−1. We interpret the shrinking loop and simultaneous outward moving loop as direct evidence for reconnected magnetic field lines during a flare. |
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