Coronal Magnetic Field Extrapolation and Topological Analysis of Fine-scale Structures during Solar Flare Precursors

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 958; no. 1; pp. 90 - 103
• Main Authors: He, Wen, Jing, Ju, Wang, Haimin, Nayak, Sushree S., Prasad, Avijeet
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia The American Astronomical Society 01-11-2023; IOP Publishing
• Subjects: Astrophysics; Coronal magnetic fields; Extrapolation; High resolution; Magnetic fields; Magnetic reconnection; Precursors; Solar active region magnetic fields; Solar activity; Solar flares; Solar magnetic field; Solar magnetic fields; Solar observatories; Topology; Wavelengths
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad0236

Abstract
Magnetic field plays an important role in various solar eruption phenomena. The formation and evolution of the characteristic magnetic field topology in solar eruptions are critical problems that will ultimately help us understand the origin of these eruptions in the solar source regions. With the development of advanced techniques and instruments, observations with higher resolutions in different wavelengths and fields of view have provided more quantitative information for finer structures. It is therefore essential to improve the method with which we study the magnetic field topology in the solar source regions by taking advantage of high-resolution observations. In this study, we employ a nonlinear force-free field extrapolation method based on a nonuniform grid setting for an M-class flare eruption event (SOL2015-06-22T17:39) with embedded vector magnetograms from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Goode Solar Telescope (GST). The extrapolation results for which the nonuniform embedded magnetogram for the bottom boundary was employed are obtained by maintaining the native resolutions of the corresponding GST and SDO magnetograms. We compare the field line connectivity with the simultaneous GST/H
α
and SDO/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly observations for these fine-scale structures, which are associated with precursor brightenings. Then we perform a topological analysis of the field line connectivity corresponding to fine-scale magnetic field structures based on the extrapolation results. The analysis results indicate that when we combine the high-resolution GST magnetogram with a larger magnetogram from the SDO, the derived magnetic field topology is consistent with a scenario of magnetic reconnection among sheared field lines across the main polarity inversion line during solar flare precursors.