太阳爆发:源动力之谜

Solar eruptive events:mystery of the engine

看似宁静的太阳上存在着诸多活动现象,其中的爆发活动,包括耀斑(solar flares)和日冕物质抛射(CMEs),是太阳系内最剧烈的能量释放,也是造成空间环境和空间天气变化的最主要因素。磁场重联一直被认为是其背后的驱动力,然而确凿的证据一直没有找到。现在,新一代观测卫星太阳动力学天文台(SDO)终于记录到了完整可信的日冕重联过程。文章中我们简要回顾太阳爆发的研究历史,介绍最新的研究成果,并讨论将来的研究重点。

Among solar activities, flares and coronal mass ejections （CMEs） are the most powerful energy release in solar system and the main factors in the changes of space weather. Magnetic field reconnection has been believed to be the driver of these solar eruptive events. However, the solid evidence of the whole process are still missing. Now, the Solar Dynamics Observatory （SDO） finally captured complete evidence of magnetic reconnection in the corona. In this article, we briefly review the history of studies on solar eruptive envents, present the latest results, and discuss on the main research subjects in future.