Impulsive Flux Transfer Events and Solar Flares

Experimental and theoretical aspects of the fundamental process of magnetic flux transfer (‘field line reconnection’) are reviewed. Explosively rapid events are observed in a laboratory magnetoplasma device designed to test certain aspects of neutral point theories of the solar flare mechanism. In these events, ultra‐fast release of magnetic energy through reconnection of field lines is effected by a conduction mode instability in which an abrupt upward transition to anomalous resistivity takes place in the neighbourhood of the X‐point. The events are triggered when the X‐point current density exceeds the conduction mode instability threshold. The energy that is released is that which is associated with the induced current system that supports field line reconnection under ordinary quiescent conditions. Many characteristics of the laboratory events and their associated phenomena, when appropriately scaled, show remarkable agreement with corresponding flare observational data. Some new directions for further development of flare theory are therefore recommended. These experiments indicate that a number of assumptions commonly made in theoretical analysis of the reconnection process are inappropriate. The flux transfer process can be well understood theoretically in terms of a simple circuit analogue which models the laboratory process.