Detectability of small reconnection events and their nanojets

Determine whether small-scale reconnection events releasing approximately nanoflare-level energies can be detected through their associated reconnection outflows, including outflows with speeds of about 100 km s−1.

Background

The simulations show that reducing the cross-sectional size of the reconnecting flux tubes lowers the released energy to approximately 1025 erg and potentially toward the canonical nanoflare range near 1024 erg, while retaining outflows of roughly 100 km s−1. Such events could represent reconnection in fine coronal-loop strands.

Because reconnection outflows have so far been difficult to observe and have been detected only in a limited number of favorable cases, the paper leaves unresolved whether these much smaller events can be identified observationally, even when they generate substantial outflow speeds.

References

It remains to be understood whether such small events can be detected, even deploying reconnection outflows at $\sim100~km/s$. Reconnection outflows have proved difficult to observe, so far possible only for a limited set of events and only with new-generation telescopes.

— MHD Modelling of magnetic reconnection heating and jets in the solar corona  (2609.10205 - Pagano et al., 9 Sep 2026) in Section 3.4, Energy of the nanoflare