Current Sheet Fragmentation in the Course of Repeated Eruptive Magnetic Flux Emergence
- 1University of Ioannina
- 2Aristotle University
Abstract
Magnetic reconnection between emerging magnetic flux and the ambient coronal field fundamentally drives solar jets. We use 3D resistive-MHD simulations of eruptive flux emergence to investigate how the large-scale current sheet formed at the interface fragments during recurrent jet activity. The simulations show that jet formation and current sheet disruption are coupled elements of a single multiscale process. The current structures developing along open field lines and within the jet are relatively weak, exhibiting a predominantly filamentary morphology. In contrast, the larger structures linked to the closed-field topology are noticeably stronger, and the eruptive development of the emerging flux further increases both their number and strength. The parallel-current distributions within the closed magnetic field lines region exhibit Gaussian central cores with pronounced non-Gaussian tails, implying a small subset of strong, intermittent structures. Magnetic spectra follow a power law with a Kolmogorov-like slope in the large-scale range, becoming much steeper in the small-scale range—consistent with reconnection-mediated magnetic structuring. Box-counting analysis shows that the strongest current structures have a fractal dimension D f ≃ 2, indicating a fragmented population of sheet-like coherent structures. Cluster analysis further reveals broad power-law distributions of cluster volumes and their Ohmic dissipation energies, with individual events reaching ∼10 ²⁰ –10 ²⁵ erg over their estimated lifetimes. These results demonstrate that eruptive flux emergence can self-consistently transform a global reconnecting current sheet into a localized, intermittent, sheet-dominated dissipative network, providing a natural environment for impulsive coronal heating and motivating future particle-acceleration studies.
Versions
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BibTeX
@article{karantanis2026current,
title = {{Current Sheet Fragmentation in the Course of Repeated Eruptive Magnetic Flux Emergence}},
author = {Vaggelis Karantanis and Loukas Vlahos and Heinz Isliker and Angelos Giannis and Vasilis Archontis},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/aeab92},
url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aeab92},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Current Sheet Fragmentation in the Course of Repeated Eruptive Magnetic Flux Emergence
AU - Vaggelis Karantanis
AU - Loukas Vlahos
AU - Heinz Isliker
AU - Angelos Giannis
AU - Vasilis Archontis
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/26
JO - The Astrophysical Journal
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/aeab92
UR - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aeab92
AB - Magnetic reconnection between emerging magnetic flux and the ambient coronal field fundamentally drives solar jets. We use 3D resistive-MHD simulations of eruptive flux emergence to investigate how the large-scale current sheet formed at the interface fragments during recurrent jet activity. The simulations show that jet formation and current sheet disruption are coupled elements of a single multiscale process. The current structures developing along open field lines and within the jet are relatively weak, exhibiting a predominantly filamentary morphology. In contrast, the larger structures linked to the closed-field topology are noticeably stronger, and the eruptive development of the emerging flux further increases both their number and strength. The parallel-current distributions within the closed magnetic field lines region exhibit Gaussian central cores with pronounced non-Gaussian tails, implying a small subset of strong, intermittent structures. Magnetic spectra follow a power law with a Kolmogorov-like slope in the large-scale range, becoming much steeper in the small-scale range—consistent with reconnection-mediated magnetic structuring. Box-counting analysis shows that the strongest current structures have a fractal dimension D f ≃ 2, indicating a fragmented population of sheet-like coherent structures. Cluster analysis further reveals broad power-law distributions of cluster volumes and their Ohmic dissipation energies, with individual events reaching ∼10 ²⁰ –10 ²⁵ erg over their estimated lifetimes. These results demonstrate that eruptive flux emergence can self-consistently transform a global reconnecting current sheet into a localized, intermittent, sheet-dominated dissipative network, providing a natural environment for impulsive coronal heating and motivating future particle-acceleration studies.
SN - 0004-637X
SN - 1538-4357
ER -