Observations of Turbulent Magnetic Reconnection within a Solar Current Sheet

Abstract

Abstract Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental physical process in various astrophysical, space, and laboratory environments. Many pieces of evidence for magnetic reconnection have been uncovered. However, its specific processes that could be fragmented and turbulent have been short of direct observational evidence. Here, we present observations of a super-hot current sheet during the SOL2017-09-10T X8.2-class solar flare that display the fragmented and turbulent nature of magnetic reconnection. As bilateral plasmas converge toward the current sheet, significant plasma heating and nonthermal motions are detected therein. Two oppositely directed outflow jets are intermittently expelled out of the fragmenting current sheet, whose intensity shows a power-law distribution in the spatial frequency domain. The intensity and velocity of the sunward outflow jets also display a power-law distribution in the temporal frequency domain. The length-to-width ratio of current sheet is estimated to be larger than the theoretical threshold and thus ensures its occurrence. The observations therefore suggest that fragmented and turbulent magnetic reconnection occurs in the long stretching current sheet.