Explosive Chromospheric Evaporation in a Circular-ribbon Flare

Abstract

In this paper, we report our multiwavelength observations of the C4.2 circular-ribbon flare in active region (AR) 12434 on 2015 October 16. The short-lived flare was associated with positive magnetic polarities and a negative polarity inside, as revealed by the photospheric line-of-sight magnetograms. Such a magnetic pattern is strongly indicative of a magnetic null point and spine-fan configuration in the corona. The flare was triggered by the eruption of a mini-filament residing in the AR, which produced the inner flare ribbon (IFR) and the southern part of a closed circular flare ribbon (CFR). When the eruptive filament reached the null point, it triggered null point magnetic reconnection with the ambient open field and generated the bright CFR and a blowout jet. Raster observations of the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph show plasma upflow at speeds of 35-120 km s^-1 in the Fe xxi λ1354.09 line ({log}T≈ 7.05) and downflow at speeds of 10-60 km s^-1 in the Si IV λ1393.77 line ({log}T≈ 4.8) at certain locations of the CFR and IFR during the impulsive phase of the flare, indicating explosive chromospheric evaporation. Coincidence of the single hard X-ray source at 12-25 keV with the IFR and calculation based on the thick-target model suggest that the explosive evaporation was most probably driven by nonthermal electrons.