In the atmosphere of the Sun, flares and flaring loops can produce beams of accelerated particles. Changes in the topology of magnetic fields lead to magnetic reconnection events, producing energetic particles which then propagate across the corona. As a result, intense heating can occur into the chromosphere, and overall accelerated particle beams can alter the transport of energy through the different regions of the Sun. This visualization shows a slice through a 3D simulation, from below to above the photoshere, where color indicates the value of a reconnection factor, used numerically to determine where reconnection occurs (in the brightest regions).

Methods: Bifrost code