Magnetic reconfiguration before the X17 solar flare of October 28, 2003

Abstract

An active region (AR) NOAA 10486, which produced a large number of X-ray flares during October–November 2003, was observed during a multi-wavelength campaign with ground based and space instruments. We focus our analysis on the observations of October 28, 2003. The magnetic field was observed with THEMIS (Na D1) and MDI (Ni I), the chromosphere with THEMIS (Ca II 8542 A˚ ) and with the Meudon heliograph in Ha, the EUV images with SOHO/EIT and TRACE. Two pre-events started just before the major X 17 flare. One was related to localized flux emergence and lasted until the decay phase of the X flare; while the second one involved a large scale quadrupolar reconnection, that we infer by modeling the AR magnetic field. Extended dimming areas across the equator (EIT), large arcades of post-flare loops (TRACE 195 A˚ ) and a halo CME (LASCO) were observed consequently after the flare. We perform an extrapolation of the magnetic field above the photosphere using a linear force-free-field approximation that allows us to find the connectivity among the four polarities that would be involved in the quadrupolar reconnection event. The X 17 flare is plausibly due to the destabilisation of a twisted flux tube, the bottom part of this magnetic structure can be visualized by the presence of a filament. The destabilization is caused by converging and shearing photospheric motions towards the main magnetic inversion line. The large scale quadrupolar reconnection related to the second pre-event would favour the opening of the field above the twisted flux tube and, consequently, the coronal mass ejection.