Study of Ribbon Separation and Magnetic Reconnection Rates

Xie Wenbin, wb_xie@bao.ac.cn, Department of Physics, Jilin Normal University
Zhang Hongqi, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Lin Jun, YunNan Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wang Haimin, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Abstract
The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager instrument (HMI) and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the newly launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) produce full-disk vector magnetograms and multiband images at consistently high resolution and high cadence. In this paper, we study the correlation between speed of the flare ribbon separation and the magnetic flux ensity a near disk-center, GOES-class X2.2 flare, which occurred in NOAA AR 11158 on 2011 February 15 by the data of SDO. The separating speed is negatively correlated with the longitudinal magnetic field, and the rate of magnetic reconnection in the corona is dominantly related to the separation speed of the flare ribbon.