Distribution characteristics of coronal electric current density as an indicator for the occurrence of a solar flare

In this paper we investigate the distribution characteristics of the coronal electric current density in a flare-producing active region (AR12158; SOL2014-09-10) by reconstructing nonlinear force-free (NLFF) fields from photospheric magnetic field data. A time series of NLFF fields shows the spatial...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan 2016-12, Vol.68 (6)
Main Authors: Kang, Jihye, Magara, Tetsuya, Inoue, Satoshi, Kubo, Yuki, Nishizuka, Naoto
Format: Article
Language:English
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In this paper we investigate the distribution characteristics of the coronal electric current density in a flare-producing active region (AR12158; SOL2014-09-10) by reconstructing nonlinear force-free (NLFF) fields from photospheric magnetic field data. A time series of NLFF fields shows the spatial distribution and its temporal development of coronal current density in this active region. A fractal dimensional analysis shows that a concentrated coronal current forms a structure of fractal spatiality. Furthermore, the distribution function of coronal current density is featured with a double power-law profile, and the value of electric current density at the breaking point of a double power-law fitting function shows a noticeable time variation toward the onset of an X-class flare. We discuss that this quantity will be a useful indicator for the occurrence of a flare.
ISSN:0004-6264
2053-051X
DOI:10.1093/pasj/psw092