Toward magnetic field dissipation during the 23 July 2002 solar flare measured with Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/Michelson Doppler Imager (SOHO/MDI) and Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI)

Abstract

We analyze the SOHO/MDI high-cadence magnetic field variations that occurred in a bipolar area around the apparent neutral line (ANL) prior to and during the 2B/X4.8 flare on 23 July 2002 and their association with the hard X-ray (HXR) and H_α emission observed with RHESSI and BBSO. Magnetic field changes started 6 min prior to the hard X-ray emission onset in 0.3-2 MeV band or 7 min in the 12-25 keV band and finished 20 min later. Before the flare, there are nine preexisting sources of a strong magnetic field of the positive and negative polarities, and six new magnetic sources associated with the hard X-ray foot points emerged 2 min before the flare maximum: two negative and four positive ones. The difference magnetograms show a steady movement with a speed of 250 km/s of the magnetic field changes toward the northeast, or a `negative magnetic field discharge' associated with the magnetic energy release in this flare. The magnetic field changes in the whole flaring area are irreversible, showing an increase of the magnetic flux from 6.7 × 10²¹ Mx up to 7.9 × 10²¹ Mx lasting for 6 min and returning after to noise fluctuations about the new magnitude. There is an irreversible increase by -120 G of an absolute magnitude of the negative magnetic field component. The rate of magnetic field changes deduced from the total area around the ANL and from the areas of the hard X-ray foot point with the irreversible changes is about 3.1 × 10¹⁸ Mx/s, and the average Poynting flux is (5-20) × 10¹¹ erg/cm²/s. The LOS fraction of a magnetic energy released for the whole flare duration is estimated as ∼(2.3-10) × 10³¹ erg. The possible scenarios of particle acceleration in this flare are proposed based on HXR and γ-ray emission.