Three‐dimensional driven reconnection in magnetic loops

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Abstract
A numerical study of reconnection in a three‐dimensional, axially bounded magnetic flux tube is presented. An axial magnetic field is embedded in a conducting fluid, between conducting end plates. An applied flow in the end plates causes distortion and stretching of the magnetic field in the flux tube, and the creation of current sheets. After the current sheets form, the reconnection rate is fast; the merging rate M ∼ 1. The reconnection mechanism resembles flux pileup in two dimensions. It is also similar to the nonlinear behavior of a subcritically excited current‐driven MHD mode. The numerical model is relevant to a mechanism thought to be important for heating the solar corona, as well as producing solar flares. Photospheric motions distort and twist up the coronal magnetic field, causing the formation of current sheets. The present computations explicitly demonstrate how this can occur.