Description
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental astrophysical process responsible for changing the topology of magnetic fields, releasing magnetic energy, and, in the Sun, facilitating both coronal heating and the onset of solar flares. As such, it is desirable to be able identify the locations at which it occurs, the properties of reconnection sites, and the nature of the change in magnetic connectivity in complex solar coronal magnetic fields. In order to do so, we perform a detailed analysis of a three-dimensional braided magnetic field in which simple, ordered boundary motions bring about instabilities that lead to ongoing magnetic reconnection. Reconnection occurs at sites away from the traditional locations of null points, separators, and quasi-separatrix layers. Statistically, the sizes of reconnection sites follow a power-law distribution. Geometrically, these sites are elongated along the direction of the magnetic field, in long, narrow, field-aligned current sheets. Reconnection takes place effectively continuously, with individual field lines seen to reconnect several times along their lengths in very short intervals in time, as they pass through many small current concentrations. Overall, we find magnetic reconnection in turbulent, braided magnetic fields to be more complex and subtle than has previously been discussed, and to have characteristics very different from those of previous models.
