A Model for Current Sheets and Reconnection in X‐Ray Bright Points
Abstract
X-ray bright points are believed to result from the interaction of two small magnetic features of opposite polarity. As these features move apart, ux interconnecting them can become disconnected and joined to the overlying magnetic eld. For features moving toward one another this process will occur in reverse. In either case this magnetic reconnection occurs at the separator eld line. Assuming that reconnection can occur only after it is "" triggered, the process will heat the plasma nearby the separator, thereby giving rise to the X-ray brightening. This can be quantied using a recent model of current sheet formation and reconnection along separators. Application of this model predicts the heating from reconnection based on the observable magnetic quantities of ux, eld strength, and polar separation. In addition, the model predicts morphological aspects of the bright points such as the apparent angle between the axes of the X-ray loop and the magnetic bipole.