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High-redshift ($z\sim2-3$) galaxies accrete circumgalactic gas through cold streams. Recent high-resolution MHD simulations of these streams showed a significant amplification of the intergalactic magnetic field in the shear layer around them. In this work we estimate the magnetisation of high-redshift galaxies that would result purely due to the accretion of already magnetised gas from cold streams. We use the mass inflow rates and saturated magnetic field values from cold stream simulations as input to a simple analytic model that calculates the galactic magnetic field purely from mass accretion. Our model predicts average magnetic field strengths that exceed $\rm\mu G$ values at $z\sim 2-3$ for inflow rates above $0.1 \, \rm{M_{\odot} yr^{-1}}$. For high inflow rates, our model results are consistent with the recent detection of a strong magnetic field in $z\gtrsim 2.6$ galaxies. Within the assumptions of our simple model, magnetised cold streams emerge as a viable mechanism for seeding a dynamically important galactic magnetic field., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, 3 appendices (3 figures). Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Stellar XUV (X-ray and extreme ultraviolet) emission drives the heating and chemical reactions in planetary atmospheres and protoplanetary disks, and therefore, a proper estimation of a stellar XUV spectrum is required for their studies. One proposed solution is to estimate stellar atmospheric heating using numerical models, although the validation was restricted to the Sun over a limited parameter range. In this study, we extend the validation of the model by testing it with the Sun and three young, nearby solar-type stars with available XUV observational data. We first test the model with the solar observations, examining its accuracy in activity minimum and maximum phases, its dependence on loop length, the effect of loop length superposition, and its sensitivity to elemental abundance. We confirm that the model spectrum is mostly accurate both in activity minimum and maximum, although the high-energy X-rays (< 1 nm) are underestimated in the activity maximum. Applying the model to young solar-type stars, we find that it can reproduce the observed XUV spectra within a factor of 3 in the range of 1-30 nm for stars with magnetic flux up to 100 times that of the Sun. For a star with 300 times the solar magnetic flux, although the raw numerical data show a systematically lower spectrum than observed, the spectra are in good agreement once corrected for the effect of insufficient resolution in the transition region. For all young solar-type stars, high-energy X-rays (< 1 nm) are significantly underestimated, with the deviation increasing with stellar magnetic activity. Our findings indicate that the stellar XUV spectrum can be reasonably estimated through a numerical model, given that the essential input parameters (surface magnetic flux and elemental abundance) are known., Comment: under review in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Photoevaporation driven by hydrogen-ionizing radiation, also known as extreme-ultraviolet (EUV), profoundly shapes the lives of diverse astrophysical objects. Focusing here mainly on the dispersal of protoplanetary disks, we construct an analytical model accounting for the finite timescales of photoheating and photoionization. The model offers improved estimates for the ionization, temperature, and velocity structures versus distance from the central source, for a given EUV emission rate and spectral hardness. Compared to the classical picture of fully-ionized and isothermal winds with temperatures $\approx 10^4{\rm \,K}$ and speeds $\approx 10{\rm \,km\,s^{-1}}$, our model unveils broader hydrodynamical and thermochemical states of photoevaporative winds. In contrast to the classical picture, T~Tauri stars with EUV luminosities around $10^{30}{\rm \,erg\,s^{-1}}$ have non-isothermal ionized winds at lower temperatures than the classical value if the spectrum is soft, with an average deposited energy per photoionization less than about 3.7\,eV. Conversely, if the spectrum is hard, the winds tend to be atomic and isothermal at most radii in the disk. For lower EUV intensities, even with soft spectra, atomic winds can emerge beyond $\sim 10{\, \rm au}$ through advection. We demonstrate that the analytical model's predictions are in general agreement with detailed radiation-hydrodynamics calculations. The model furthermore illustrates how the energy efficiency of photoevaporation varies with the intensity and spectral hardness of the EUV illumination, as well as addressing discrepancies in the literature around the effectiveness of X-ray photoevaporation. These findings highlight the importance of considering the finite timescales of photoheating and photoionization, both in modeling and in interpreting observational data., Comment: Submitted to ApJ

X-rays have significant impacts on cold, weakly ionized protoplanetary disks by increasing the ionization rate and driving chemical reactions. Stellar flares are explosions that emit intense X-rays and are the unique source of hard X-rays with an energy of $\gtrsim10$ keV in the protoplanetary disk systems. Hard X-rays should be carefully taken into account in models as they can reach the disk midplane as a result of scattering in the disk atmospheres. However, previous models are insufficient to predict the hard X-ray spectra because of simplifications in flare models. We develop a model of X-ray spectra of stellar flares based on observations and flare theories. The flare temperature and nonthermal electron emissions are modeled as functions of flare energy, which allows us to better predict the hard X-ray photon flux than before. Using our X-ray model, we conduct radiative transfer calculations to investigate the impact of flare hard X-rays on disk ionization, with a particular focus on the protoplanetary disk around a T Tauri star. We demonstrate that for a flare with an energy of $ 10^{35}$ erg, X-ray photons with $\gtrsim 5$ keV increase the ionization rates more than galactic cosmic rays down to $z \approx 0.1R$. The contribution of flare X-rays to the ionization at the midplane depends on the disk parameters such as disk mass and dust settling. We also find that the 10-year-averaged X-rays from multiple flares could certainly contribute to the ionization. These results emphasize the importance of stellar flares on the disk evolution., Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables

The IceCube collaboration has reported possible detections of high-energy neutrinos from nearby Seyfert galaxies. While central hot coronae are proposed as the primary neutrino production site, the exact coronal cosmic-ray energy budget has been loosely constrained. In this study, we propose a new stringent upper bound on the coronal cosmic-ray energy budget of Seyfert galaxies, considering both accretion dynamics and observed properties of radio-quiet Seyfert galaxies. Notably, even under the calorimetric condition where cosmic rays lose all their energies, our limit indicates that the coronal neutrino flux of NGC~1068 is about an order of magnitude fainter than the observed levels. This discrepancy suggests the need for further theoretical and observational investigations on the IceCube signals from Seyfert galaxies., Comment: 8 pages, no figures, accepted for publication in PASJ

We perform three-dimensional global non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic simulations of a protoplanetary disk containing the inner dead-zone edge. We take into account realistic diffusion coefficients of the Ohmic resistivity and ambipolar diffusion based on detailed chemical reactions with single-size dust grains. We found that the conventional dead zone identified by the Els\"asser numbers of the Ohmic resistivity and ambipolar diffusion is divided into two regions: "the transition zone" and "the coherent zone". The coherent zone has the same properties as the conventional dead zone, and extends outside of the transition zone in the radial direction. Between the active and coherent zones, we discover the transition zone, the inner edge of which is identical to that of the conventional dead zone. The transition zone extends out over the regions where thermal ionization determines diffusion coefficients. The transition zone has completely different physical properties than the conventional dead zone, the so-called undead zone, and the zombie zone. The combination of amplification of the radial magnetic field owing to the ambipolar diffusion and a steep radial gradient of the Ohmic diffusivity causes the efficient evacuation of the net vertical magnetic flux from the transition zone within several rotations. Surface gas accretion occurs in the coherent zone but not in the transition zone. The presence of the transition zone prohibits mass and magnetic flux transport from the coherent zone to the active zone. Mass accumulation occurs at both edges of the transition zone as a result of mass supply from the active and coherent zones., Comment: 43 pages, 37 figures, PASJ open access (https://doi.org/10.1093/pasj/psae036)

We numerically construct a series of axisymmetric rotating magnetic wind solutions, aiming at exploring the observation properties of massive white dwarf (WD) merger remnants with a strong magnetic field, a fast spin, and an intense mass loss, as inferred for WD J005311. We investigate the magnetospheric structure and the resultant spin-down torque exerted to the merger remnant with respect to the surface magnetic flux $\Phi_*$, spin angular frequency $\Omega_*$ and the mass loss rate $\dot M$. We confirm that the wind properties for $\sigma \equiv \Phi^2_* \Omega_*^2/\dot M v_\mathrm{esc}^3 \gtrsim 1$ significantly deviate from those of the spherical Parker wind, where $v_\mathrm{esc}$ is the escape velocity at stellar surface. For such a rotating magnetic wind sequence, we find: (i) quasi-periodic mass eruption triggered by magnetic reconnection along with the equatorial plane (ii) a scaling relation for the spin-down torque $T \approx (1/2) \times \dot{M} \Omega_* R^2_* \sigma^{1/4}$. We apply our results to discuss the spin-down evolution and wind anisotropy of massive WD merger remnants, the latter of which could be probed by a successive observation of WD J005311 using Chandra., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, comments are welcome

We theoretically investigate the magnetic flux transport in geometrically thick accretion discs which may form around black holes. We utilize a two-dimensional (2D) kinematic mean-field model for poloidal field transport which is governed by both inward advection and outward diffusion of the field. Assuming a steady state, we analytically show that the multi-dimensional effects prevent the field accumulation toward the centre and reduce the field inclination angle. We also numerically investigate the radial profile of the field strength and the inclination angle for two geometrically thick discs for which (quasi-)analytic solutions exist: radiatively inefficient accretion flows (RIAFs) and super-Eddington accretion flows. We develop a 2D kinematic mean-field code and perform simulations of flux transport to study the multi-dimensional effects. The numerical simulations are consistent with our analytical prediction. We also discuss a condition for the external field strength that RIAF can be a magnetically arrested disc. This study could be important for understanding the origin of a large-scale magnetic field that drives jets and disc winds around black holes., Comment: 17 pages, 18 figures, 3 Appendices; submitted to MNRAS (June 30 2023)

Accretion plays a central role in the physics that governs the evolution and dispersal of protoplanetary disks. The primary goal of this paper is to analyze the stability over time of the mass accretion rate onto TW Hya, the nearest accreting solar-mass young star. We measure veiling across the optical spectrum in 1169 archival high-resolution spectra of TW Hya, obtained from 1998--2022. The veiling is then converted to accretion rate using 26 flux-calibrated spectra that cover the Balmer jump. The accretion rate measured from the excess continuum has an average of $2.51\times10^{-9}$~M$_\odot$~yr$^{-1}$ and a Gaussian distribution with a FWHM of 0.22 dex. This accretion rate may be underestimated by a factor of up to 1.5 because of uncertainty in the bolometric correction and another factor of 1.7 because of excluding the fraction of accretion energy that escapes in lines, especially Ly$\alpha$. The accretion luminosities are well correlated with He line luminosities but poorly correlated with H$\alpha$ and H$\beta$ luminosity. The accretion rate is always flickering over hours but on longer timescales has been stable over 25 years. This level of variability is consistent with previous measurements for most, but not all, accreting young stars., Comment: Accepted by ApJ. 31 pages

Cold streams of gas with temperatures around $10^4 \, \rm K$ play a crucial role in the gas accretion on to high-redshift galaxies. The current resolution of cosmological simulations is insufficient to fully capture the stability and Ly$\alpha$ emission characteristics of cold stream accretion, underscoring the imperative need for conducting idealized high-resolution simulations. We investigate the impact of magnetic fields at various angles and anisotropic thermal conduction (TC) on the dynamics of radiatively cooling streams through a comprehensive suite of two-dimensional high-resolution simulations. An initially small magnetic field ($\sim 10^{-3} \, \rm \mu G$), oriented non-parallel to the stream, can grow significantly, providing stability against Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities and reducing the Ly$\alpha$ emission by a factor of $<20$ compared to the hydrodynamics case. With TC, the stream evolution can be categorised into three regimes: (1) the Diffusing Stream regime, where the stream diffuses into the surrounding hot circumgalactic medium; (2) the Intermediate regime, where TC diffuses the mixing layer, resulting in enhanced stabilization and reduced emissions; (3) the Condensing Stream regime, where the impact of magnetic field and TC on the stream's emission and evolution becomes negligible. Extrapolating our findings to the cosmological context suggests that cold streams with a radius of $\leq 1 \rm \, \rm kpc$ may fuel galaxies with cold, metal-enriched, magnetized gas ($B \sim 0.1-1 \, \rm \mu G$) for a longer time, leading to a broad range of Ly$\alpha$ luminosity signatures of $\sim 10^{37}-10^{41}\, \rm \, erg \, s^{-1}$., Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures, 1 video link (https://youtu.be/zhNCGoiUYgE), 3 Appendices; accepted to MNRAS (December 2023)

Recent observations suggest late accretion, which is generally nonaxisymmetric, onto protoplanetary disks. We investigated nonaxisymmetric late accretion considering the effects of magnetic fields. Our model assumes a cloudlet encounter event at a few hundred au scale, where a magnetized gas clump (cloudlet) encounters a protoplanetary disk. We studied how the cloudlet size and the magnetic field strength affect the rotational velocity profile in the disk after the cloudlet encounter. The results show that a magnetic field can either decelerate or accelerate the rotational motion of the cloudlet material, primarily depending on the relative size of the cloudlet to the disk thickness. When the cloudlet size is comparable to or smaller than the disk thickness, magnetic fields only decelerate the rotation of the colliding cloudlet material. However, if the cloudlet size is larger than the disk thickness, the colliding cloudlet material can be super-Keplerian as a result of magnetic acceleration. We found that the vertical velocity shear of the cloudlet produces a magnetic tension force that increases the rotational velocity. The acceleration mechanism operates when the initial plasma $\beta$ is $ \beta \lesssim 2\times 10^1 $. Our study shows that magnetic fields modify the properties of spirals formed by tidal effects. These findings may be important for interpreting observations of late accretion., Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures, 1 table, published in The Astrophysical Journal

The short timescale of the solar flare reconnection process has long proved to be a puzzle. Recent studies suggest the importance of the formation of plasmoids in the reconnecting current sheet, with quantifying the aspect ratio of the width to length of the current sheet in terms of a negative power $\alpha$ of the Lundquist number, i.e. $S^{-\alpha}$, being key to understanding the onset of plasmoids formation. In this paper we make the first application of theoretical scalings for this aspect ratio to observed flares to evaluate how plasmoid formation may connect with observations. We find that for three different flares showing plasmoids a range of $\alpha$ values of $\alpha= 0.27$ to $0.31$. The values in this small range implies that plasmoids may be forming before the theoretically predicted critical aspect ratio ($\alpha=1/3$) has been reached, potentially presenting a challenge for the theoretical models., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, 1 table. Published Open Access version (https://doi.org/10.1017/exp.2022.23)

Extreme ultraviolet imaging spectroscopic observations often show an increase in line width around the loop-top or above-loop-top (ALT) region of solar flares, suggestive of turbulence. In addition, recent spectroscopic observations found the oscillation in the Doppler velocity around the ALT region. We performed three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations to investigate the dynamics in the ALT region, with a particular focus on the generation of turbulence and the excitation of the oscillatory motion. We found a rapid growth of MHD instabilities around the upper parts of the ALT region (arms of the magnetic tuning fork). The instabilities grow more rapidly than the magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor-type instabilities at the density interface beneath the reconnecting current sheet. Eventually, the ALT region is filled with turbulent flows. The arms of the magnetic tuning fork have bad-curvature and transonic flows. Therefore, we consider that the rapidly growing instabilities are combinations of pressure-driven and centrifugally driven Rayleigh-Taylor-type instabilities. Despite the presence of turbulent flows, the ALT region shows a coherent oscillation driven by the backflow of the reconnection jet. We examine the numerical results by re-analyzing the solar flare presented in Reeves et al. 2020. We find that the highest non-thermal velocity is always at the uppermost visible edge of the ALT region, where oscillations are present. This result is consistent with our models. We also argue that the turbulent magnetic field has a significant impact on the confinement of non-thermal electrons in the ALT region., Comment: 21 pages, 20 figures, This article has been accepted for Astrophysical Journal

We investigate gamma-ray emission in the impulsive phase of solar flares and the detectability of non-thermal signatures from protostellar flares. Energetic solar flares emit high-energy gamma rays of GeV energies, but their production mechanism and emission site are still unknown. Young stellar objects, including protostars, also exhibit luminous X-ray flares, but the triggering mechanism of the flaring activity is still unclear due to the strong obscuration. Non-thermal signatures in mm/sub-mm and gamma-ray bands are useful to probe protostellar flares owing to their strong penetration power. We develop a non-thermal emission model of the impulsive phase of solar flares, where cosmic-ray protons accelerated at the termination shock produce high-energy gamma rays via hadronuclear interaction with the evaporation plasma. This model can reproduce gamma-ray data in the impulsive phase of a solar flare. We apply our model to protostellar flares and show that Cherenkov Telescope Array will be able to detect gamma rays of TeV energies if particle acceleration in protostellar flares is efficient. Non-thermal electrons accelerated together with protons can emit strong mm and sub-mm signals via synchrotron radiation, whose power is consistent with the energetic mm/sub-mm transients observed from young stars. Future gamma-ray and mm/sub-mm observations from protostars, coordinated with a hard X-ray observation, will unravel the non-thermal particle production and triggering mechanism of protostellar flares., Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in ApJ

We perform three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of magnetospheric accretion in a T Tauri star to study the accretion and wind structures in the close vicinity of the star. The gas accreting onto the star consists of the gas from the magnetospheric boundary and the failed disk winds. The accreting gas is commonly found as a multi-column accretion, which is consistent with observations. A significant fraction of the angular momentum of the accreting flows is removed by the magnetic fields of conical disk winds and turbulent failed winds inside and near the magnetosphere. As a result, the accretion torque is significantly reduced compared to the simple estimation based on the mass accretion rate. The stellar spin affects the time variability of the conical disk wind by changing the stability condition of the magnetospheric boundary. However, the time-averaged magnetospheric radius only weakly depends on the stellar spin, which is unlike the prediction of classical theories that the stellar spin controls the magnetospheric radius through the magnetic torque. The ratio of the toroidal to the poloidal field strengths at the magnetospheric boundary, which is a key parameter for the magnetic torque, is also insensitive to the spin; it is rather determined by the disk dynamics. Considering newly found three-dimensional effects, we obtain a scaling relation of the magnetospheric radius very similar to the Ghosh & Lamb relation from the steady angular momentum transport equation., Comment: 38 pages, 21 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ

We investigate how magnetically driven outflows are powered by a rotating, weakly magnetized accretion flow onto a supermassive black hole using axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamic simulations. Our proposed model focuses on the accretion dynamics on an intermediate scale between the Schwarzschild radius and the galactic scale, which is $\sim$1-100 pc. We demonstrate that a rotating disk formed on a parsec-scale acquires poloidal magnetic fields via accretion and this produces an asymmetric bipolar outflow at some point. The formation of the outflow was found to follow the growth of strongly magnetized regions around disk surfaces (magnetic bubbles). The bipolar outflow grew continuously inside the expanding bubbles. We theoretically derived the growth condition of magnetic bubbles for our model that corresponds to a necessary condition for outflow growth. We found that the north-south asymmetric structure of the bipolar outflow originates from the complex motions excited by accreting flows around the outer edge of the disk. The bipolar outflow comprises multiple mini-outflows and downflows (failed outflows). The mini-outflows emanate from the magnetic concentrations (magnetic patches). The magnetic patches exhibit inward drifting motions, thereby making the outflows unsteady. We demonstrate that the inward drift can be modeled using a simple magnetic patch model that considers magnetic angular momentum extraction. This study could be helpful for understanding how asymmetric and non-steady outflows with complex substructures are produced around supermassive black holes without the help of strong radiation from accretion disks or entrainment by radio jets such as molecular outflows in radio-quiet active galactic nuclei, NGC 1377., Comment: single column, 36 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

Recent observations have detected excess H$\alpha$ emission from young stellar systems with an age of several Myr such as PDS 70. One-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic models of shock-heated flows that we developed previously demonstrate that planetary accretion flows of $>$ a few ten km s$^{-1}$ can produce H$\alpha$ emission. It is, however, a challenge to understand the accretion process of proto-giant planets from observations of such shock-originated emission because of a huge gap in scale between the circumplanetary disk (CPD) and the microscopic accretion shock. To overcome the scale gap problem, we combine two-dimensional, high-spatial-resolution global hydrodynamic simulations and the one-dimensional local radiation hydrodynamic model of the shock-heated flow. From such combined simulations for the protoplanet-CPD system, we find that the H$\alpha$ emission is mainly produced in localized areas on the protoplanetary surface. The accretion shocks above CPD produce much weaker H$\alpha$ emission (approximately 1-2 orders of magnitude smaller in luminosity). Nevertheless, the accretion shocks above CPD significantly affect the accretion process onto the protoplanet. The accretion occurs at a quasi-steady rate, if averaged on a 10-day timescale, but its rate shows variability on shorter timescales. The disk surface accretion layers including the CPD-shocks largely fluctuate, which results in the time-variable accretion rate and H$\alpha$ luminosity of the protoplanet. We also model the spectral emission profile of the H$\alpha$ line and find that the line profile is less time-variable, despite the large variability in luminosity. High-spectral resolution spectroscopic observation and monitoring will be key to reveal the property of the accretion process., Comment: 26 pages, 15 figures; minor revisions to match the published version

Current state-of-the-art spectrographs cannot resolve the fundamental spatial (sub-arcseconds) and temporal scales (less than a few tens of seconds) of the coronal dynamics of solar flares and eruptive phenomena. The highest resolution coronal data to date are based on imaging, which is blind to many of the processes that drive coronal energetics and dynamics. As shown by IRIS for the low solar atmosphere, we need high-resolution spectroscopic measurements with simultaneous imaging to understand the dominant processes. In this paper: (1) we introduce the Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE), a spaceborne observatory to fill this observational gap by providing high-cadence (<20 s), sub-arcsecond resolution spectroscopic rasters over an active region size of the solar transition region and corona; (2) using advanced numerical models, we demonstrate the unique diagnostic capabilities of MUSE for exploring solar coronal dynamics, and for constraining and discriminating models of solar flares and eruptions; (3) we discuss the key contributions MUSE would make in addressing the science objectives of the Next Generation Solar Physics Mission (NGSPM), and how MUSE, the high-throughput EUV Solar Telescope (EUVST) and the Daniel K Inouye Solar Telescope (and other ground-based observatories) can operate as a distributed implementation of the NGSPM. This is a companion paper to De Pontieu et al. (2021; arXiv:2106.15584), which focuses on investigating coronal heating with MUSE., Comment: 42 pages, 22 figures, submitted to ApJ

The X-ray and extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) emissions from the low-mass stars significantly affect the evolution of the planetary atmosphere. However, it is, observationally difficult to constrain the stellar high-energy emission because of the strong interstellar extinction of EUV photons. In this study, we simulate the XUV (X-ray+EUV) emission from the Sun-like stars by extending the solar coronal heating model that self-consistently solves, with sufficiently high resolution, the surface-to-coronal energy transport, turbulent coronal heating, and coronal thermal response by conduction and radiation. The simulations are performed with a range of loop lengths and magnetic filling factors at the stellar surface. With the solar parameters, the model reproduces the observed solar XUV spectrum below the Lyman edge, thus validating its capability of predicting the XUV spectra of other Sun-like stars. The model also reproduces the observed nearly-linear relation between the unsigned magnetic flux and the X-ray luminosity. From the simulation runs with various loop lengths and filling factors, we also find a scaling relation, namely $\log L_{\rm EUV} = 9.93 + 0.67 \log L_{\rm X}$, where $L_{\rm EUV}$ and $L_{\rm X}$ are the luminosity in the EUV and X-ray range, respectively, in cgs. By assuming a power-law relation between the Rossby number and the magnetic filling factor, we reproduce the renowned relation between the Rossby number and the X-ray luminosity. We also propose an analytical description of the energy injected into the corona, which, in combination with the conventional Rosner-Tucker-Vaiana scaling law, semi-analytically explains the simulation results. This study refines the concepts of solar and stellar coronal heating and derives a theoretical relation for estimating the hidden stellar EUV luminosity from X-ray observations., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

We numerically investigate the dynamics of a supernova fallback accretion confronting with a relativistic wind from a newborn neutron star (NS). The time evolution of the accretion shock in the radial direction is basically characterized by the encounter radius of the flow $r_\mathrm{enc}$ and a dimensionless parameter $\zeta \equiv L/\dot M_\mathrm{fb}c^2$, where $L$ is the NS wind luminosity and $\dot M_\mathrm{fb}$ is the fallback mass accretion rate. We find that the critical condition for the fallback matter to reach near the NS surface can be simply described as $\zeta < \zeta_\mathrm{min} \equiv GM_*/c^2r_\mathrm{enc}$ or $r_\mathrm{enc}L/G M_* \dot M_\mathrm{fb} < 1$ independent of the wind Lorentz factor, where $M_*$ is the NS mass. With combining the condition for the fallback matter to bury the surface magnetic field under the NS crust, we discuss the possibility that the trifurcation of NSs into rotation-powered pulsars, central compact objects (CCOs), and magnetars can be induced by supernova fallback., Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures; Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

The dynamical evolution of protoplanetary disks is of key interest for building a comprehensive theory of planet formation and to explain the observational properties of these objects. Using the magnetohydrodynamics code Athena++, with an isothermal shearing box setup, we study the boundary between the active and dead zone, where the accretion rate changes and mass can accumulate. We quantify how the turbulence level is affected by the presence of a non uniform ohmic resistivity in the radial-x direction that leads to a region of inhibited turbulence (or dead zone). Comparing the turbulent activity to that of ideal simulations, the turbulence inhibited area shows density fluctuations and magnetic activity at its boundaries, driven by energy injection from the active (ideal) zone boundaries. We find magnetic dissipation to be significantly stronger in the ideal regions, and the turbulence penetration through the boundary of the dead zone is determined by the value of the resistivity itself, through the ohmic dissipation process, though the thickness of the transition does not play a significant role in changing the dissipation. We investigate the 1D spectra along the shearing direction: magnetic spectra appear flat at large scales both in ideal as well as resistive simulations, though a Kolmogorov scaling over more than one decade persists in the dead zone, suggesting the turbulent cascade is determined by the hydrodynamics of the system: MRI dynamo action is inhibited where sufficiently high resistivity is present., Comment: 11 pages 12 figures

We investigated the coronal properties of G-dwarf stars including the Sun over a wide range of X-ray luminosity $L_{\rm X}$ ($3\times 10^{26}$ to $2\times 10^{30}~{\rm erg~s^{-1}}$). We analyzed the archival data of ten X-ray bright ($L_{\it X}>10^{28}~{\rm erg~s^{-1}}$) G-dwarf stars to derive their emission measure (EM) and the coronal temperature ($T$) during the periods when no prominent stellar flares were observed. We attempted to explain the relation on the basis of our understanding of the present Sun: a steady corona model based on the so-called RTV scaling laws and the observed power-law distribution function of surface magnetic features. We derived a theoretical scaling law of the EM--$T$ relation for a star with multiple active regions, and applied it to the observations combined with data in literature. We found that with the solar parameters, our scaling law seems to be consistent with the data of slowly-rotating stars. However, more X-ray bright stars are located well above the scaling law based on the solar parameter. The scaling law may explain the observations if those stars show a power-law distribution function of active regions with the same power-law index but a 10-100 times larger coefficient. This suggests that X-ray bright stars show more active regions for a given size than the Sun. Since our samples include rapidly-rotating stars, we infer that the offset of the X-ray bright stars from the present-Sun-based scaling law is due to the enhancement of the surface magnetic field generation by their rapid rotation., Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

We report a new evaluation of the accretion properties of PDS~70b obtained with VLT/MUSE. The main difference from previous studies in Haffert et al. (2019) and Aoyama & Ikoma (2019) is in the mass accretion rate. Simultaneous multiple line observations, such as H$\alpha$ and H$\beta$, can better constrain the physical properties of an accreting planet. While we clearly detected H$\alpha$ emissions from PDS~70b, no H$\beta$ emissions were detected. We estimate the line flux of H$\beta$ with a 3-$\sigma$ upper limit to be 2.3~$\times$~10$^{-16}$~erg~s$^{-1}$~cm$^{-2}$. The flux ratio $F_{\rm H\beta}$/$F_{\rm H\alpha}$ for PDS~70b is $<$~0.28. Numerical investigations by Aoyama et al. (2018) suggest that $F_{\rm H\beta}$/$F_{\rm H\alpha}$ should be close to unity if the extinction is negligible. We attribute the reduction of the flux ratio to the extinction, and estimate the extinction of H$\alpha$ ($A_{\rm H\alpha}$) for PDS~70b to be $>$~2.0~mag using the interstellar extinction value. %The expected $A_{\rm H\alpha}$ value in the gap of the protoplanetary disk at the PDS~70b location is 2.4~mag, which is consistent with the estimated extinction. By combining with the H$\alpha$ linewidth and the dereddening line luminosity of H$\alpha$, %we derive the PDS~70b dynamical mass and mass accretion rate to be \hashimotor{12~$\pm$~3~$M_{\rm Jup}$} and $\gtrsim$~5~$\times$~10$^{-7}$~$M_{\rm Jup}$~yr$^{-1}$, respectively. we derive the PDS~70b mass accretion rate to be $\gtrsim$~5~$\times$~10$^{-7}$~$M_{\rm Jup}$~yr$^{-1}$. The PDS~70b mass accretion rate is an order of magnitude larger than that of PDS~70. We found that the filling factor $f_{\rm f}$ (the fractional area of the planetary surface emitting H$\alpha$) is $\gtrsim$0.01, which is similar to the typical stellar value. The small value of $f_{\rm f}$ indicates that the H$\alpha$ emitting areas are localized at the surface of PDS~70b., Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal

For a better understanding of magnetic field in the solar corona and dynamic activities such as flares and coronal mass ejections, it is crucial to measure the time-evolving coronal field and accurately estimate the magnetic energy. Recently, a new modeling technique called the data-driven coronal field model, in which the time evolution of magnetic field is driven by a sequence of photospheric magnetic and velocity field maps, has been developed and revealed the dynamics of flare-productive active regions. Here we report on the first qualitative and quantitative assessment of different data-driven models using a magnetic flux emergence simulation as a ground-truth (GT) data set. We compare the GT field with those reconstructed from the GT photospheric field by four data-driven algorithms. It is found that, at least, the flux rope structure is reproduced in all coronal field models. Quantitatively, however, the results show a certain degree of model dependence. In most cases, the magnetic energies and relative magnetic helicity are comparable to or at most twice of the GT values. The reproduced flux ropes have a sigmoidal shape (consistent with GT) of various sizes, a vertically-standing magnetic torus, or a packed structure. The observed discrepancies can be attributed to the highly non-force-free input photospheric field, from which the coronal field is reconstructed, and to the modeling constraints such as the treatment of background atmosphere, the bottom boundary setting, and the spatial resolution., Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in ApJ. The ground-truth dataset (photospheric slices of the flux emergence simulation) is available online at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3591984

A new Riemann solver is presented for the ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations with the so-called Boris correction. The Boris correction is applied to reduce wave speeds, avoiding an extremely small timestep in MHD simulations. The proposed Riemann solver, Boris-HLLD, is based on the HLLD solver. As done by the original HLLD solver, (1) the Boris-HLLD solver has four intermediate states in the Riemann fan when left and right states are given, (2) it resolves the contact discontinuity, Alfv\'en waves, and fast waves, and (3) it satisfies all the jump conditions across shock waves and discontinuities except for slow shock waves. The results of a shock tube problem indicate that the scheme with the Boris-HLLD solver captures contact discontinuities sharply and it exhibits shock waves without any overshoot when using the minmod limiter. The stability tests show that the scheme is stable when $|u| \lesssim 0.5c$ for a low Alfv\'en speed ($V_A \lesssim c$), where $u$, $c$, and $V_A$ denote the gas velocity, speed of light, and Alfv\'en speed, respectively. For a high Alfv\'en speed ($V_A \gtrsim c$), where the plasma beta is relatively low in many cases, the stable region is large, $|u| \lesssim (0.6-1) c$. We discuss the effect of the Boris correction on physical quantities using several test problems. The Boris-HLLD scheme can be useful for problems with supersonic flows in which regions with a very low plasma beta appear in the computational domain., Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, Accepted by ApJ

Protostellar flares are rapid magnetic energy release events associated with formation of hot plasma in protostars. In the previous models of protostellar flares, the interaction between a protostellar magnetosphere with the surrounding disk plays crucial roles in building-up and releasing the magnetic energy. However, it remains unclear if protostars indeed have magnetospheres because vigorous disk accretion and strong disk magnetic fields in the protostellar phase may destroy the magnetosphere. Considering this possibility, we investigate the energy accumulation and release processes in the absence of a magnetosphere using a three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulation. Our simulation reveals that protostellar flares are repeatedly produced even in such a case. Unlike in the magnetospheric models, the protostar accumulates magnetic energy by acquiring large-scale magnetic fields from the disk by accretion. Protostellar flares occur when a portion of the large-scale magnetic fields are removed from the protostar as a result of magnetic reconnection. Protostellar flares in the simulation are consistent with observations; the released magnetic energy (up to $\sim 3\times 10^{38}$ erg) is large enough to drive observed flares, and the flares produce hot ejecta. The expelled magnetic fields enhance accretion, and the energy build-up and release processes are repeated as a result. The magnetic flux removal via reconnection leads to redistribution of magnetic fields in the inner disk. We therefore consider that protostellar flares will play an important role in the evolution of the disk magnetic fields in the vicinity of protostars., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

A flare kernel associated with a C4 class flare was observed in a spectral window including the He I triplet 10830 A and Si I 10827 A with a spectropolarimeter on the Domeless Solar Telescope at Hida Observatory on August 9th, 2015. Observed Stokes profiles of the He I triplet in the flare kernel in its post-maximum phase are well reproduced through inversions considering the Zeeman and the Paschen-Back effects with a three slab model of the flare kernel, in which two slabs having up and downward velocities produce emissions and one slab produces an absorption. The magnetic field strength inferred from the emission components of the He I line is 1400 G, which is significantly stronger than 690 G that is observed at the same location in the same line 6.5 hours before the flare. In addition, photospheric magnetic field vector derived from the Si I10827 A is similar to that of the flare kernel. To explain this results, we suggest that the emission in the He I triplet during the flare is produced in the deep layer, around which bombardment of non-thermal electrons leads to the formation of a coronal temperature plasma. Assuming a hydrogen column density at the location where the He I emissions are formed, and a power-law index of non-thermal electron energy distribution, we derived the low-energy cutoff of the non-thermal electron as 20 - 30 keV, which is consistent with that inferred from hard X-ray data obtained by RHESSI., Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in PASJ (Hida topical issue)

We present the results of a global, three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics simulation of an accretion disk with a rotating, weakly magnetized central star. The disk is threaded by a weak, large-scale poloidal magnetic field, and the central star has no strong stellar magnetosphere initially. Our simulation investigates the structure of the accretion flows from a turbulent accretion disk onto the star. The simulation reveals that fast accretion onto the star at high latitudes occurs even without a stellar magnetosphere. We find that the failed disk wind becomes the fast, high-latitude accretion as a result of angular momentum exchange mediated by magnetic fields well above the disk, where the Lorentz force that decelerates the rotational motion of gas can be comparable to the centrifugal force. Unlike the classical magnetospheric accretion scenario, fast accretion streams are not guided by magnetic fields of the stellar magnetosphere. Nevertheless, the accretion velocity reaches the free-fall velocity at the stellar surface due to the efficient angular momentum loss at a distant place from the star. This study provides a possible explanation why Herbig Ae/Be stars whose magnetic fields are generally not strong enough to form magnetospheres also show indications of fast accretion. A magnetically driven jet is not formed from the disk in our model. The differential rotation cannot generate sufficiently strong magnetic fields for the jet acceleration because the Parker instability interrupts the field amplification., Comment: 37 pages, 32 figures. The previous version is replaced with the published version. This paper was accepted in February 2018 and published in ApJ in April 2018

Solar active regions (ARs) that produce strong flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are known to have a relatively high non-potentiality and are characterized by delta-sunspots and sheared magnetic structures. In this study, we conduct a series of flux emergence simulations from the convection zone to the corona and model four types of active regions that have been observationally suggested to cause strong flares, namely the Spot-Spot, Spot-Satellite, Quadrupole, and Inter-AR cases. As a result, we confirm that delta-spot formation is due to the complex geometry and interaction of emerging magnetic fields, with finding that the strong-field, high-gradient, highly-sheared polarity inversion line (PIL) is created by the combined effect of the advection, stretching, and compression of magnetic fields. We show that free magnetic energy builds up in the form of a current sheet above the PIL. It is also revealed that photospheric magnetic parameters that predict flare eruptions reflect the stored free energy with high accuracy, while CME-predicting parameters indicate the magnetic relationship between flaring zones and entire ARs., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. Movies for Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 will be available in the published version

There is a subclass of the X-ray jets from young stellar objects which are heated very close to the footpoint of the jets, particularly DG Tau jets. Previous models attribute the strong heating to shocks in the jets. However, the mechanism that localizes the heating at the footpoint remains puzzling. We presented a different model of such X-ray jets, in which the disk atmosphere is magnetically heated. Our disk corona model is based on the so-called nanoflare model for the solar corona. We show that the magnetic heating near the disks can result in the formation of a hot corona with a temperature of > 10^6 K even if the average field strength in the disk is moderately weak, > 1 G. We determine the density and the temperature at the jet base by considering the energy balance between the heating and cooling. We derive the scaling relations of the mass loss rate and terminal velocity of jets. Our model is applied to the DG Tau jets. The observed temperature and estimated mass loss rate are consistent with the prediction of our model in the case of the disk magnetic field strength of ~20 G and the heating region of < 0.1 au. The derived scaling relation of the temperature of X-ray jets could be a useful tool to estimate the magnetic field strength. We also found that the jet X-ray can have a significant impact on the ionization degree near the disk surface and the dead-zone size., Comment: 31 pages (single column), 5 figures, Accepted to be published in ApJ

Coronal disturbances associated with solar flares, such as H$\alpha$ Moreton waves, X-ray waves, and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) coronal waves are discussed herein in relation to magnetohydrodynamics fast-mode waves or shocks in the corona. To understand the mechanism of coronal disturbances, full-disk solar observations with high spatial and temporal resolution over multiple wavelengths are of crucial importance. We observed a filament eruption, whose shape is like a "dandelion", associated with the M1.6 flare that occurred on 2011 February 16 in the H$\alpha$ images taken by the Flare Monitoring Telescope at Ica University, Peru. We derive the three-dimensional velocity field of the erupting filament. We also identify winking filaments that are located far from the flare site in the H$\alpha$ images, whereas no Moreton wave is observed. By comparing the temporal evolution of the winking filaments with those of the coronal wave seen in the extreme ultraviolet images data taken by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the {\it Solar Dynamics Observatory} and by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager on board the {\it Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory-Ahead}, we confirm that the winking filaments were activated by the EUV coronal wave., Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures, accepted by The Astrophysical Journal, December 31, 2016

We report a strong association between the particle acceleration and plasma motions found in the 2010 August 18 solar flare. The plasma motions are tracked in the extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) images taken by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory and the Extreme UltraViolet Imager (EUVI) on the Solar Terrestrial Relation Observatory spacecraft Ahead, and the signature of particle acceleration was investigated by using Nobeyama Radioheliograph data. In our previous paper, we reported that in EUV images many plasma blobs appeared in the current sheet above the flare arcade. They were ejected bidirectionally along the current sheet, and the blobs that were ejected sunward collided with the flare arcade. Some of them collided or merged with each other before they were ejected from the current sheet. We discovered impulsive radio bursts associated with such plasma motions (ejection, coalescence, and collision with the post flare loops). The radio bursts are considered to be the gyrosynchrotron radiation by nonthermal high energy electrons. In addition, the stereoscopic observation by AIA and EUVI suggests that plasma blobs had a three-dimensionally elongated structure. We consider that the plasma blobs were three-dimensional plasmoids (i.e. flux ropes) moving in a current sheet. We believe that our observation provides clear evidence of particle acceleration associated with the plasmoid motions. We discuss possible acceleration mechanisms on the basis of our results., Comment: 29 pages, 10 figures. Published in ApJ

Recent space based observations of the Sun revealed that magnetic reconnection is ubiquitous in the solar atmosphere, ranging from small scale reconnection (observed as nanoflares) to large scale one (observed as long duration flares or giant arcades). Often the magnetic reconnection events are associated with mass ejections or jets, which seem to be closely related to multiple plasmoid ejections from fractal current sheet. The bursty radio and hard X-ray emissions from flares also suggest the fractal reconnection and associated particle acceleration. We shall discuss recent observations and theories related to the plasmoid-induced-reconnection and the fractal reconnection in solar flares, and their implication to reconnection physics and particle acceleration. Recent findings of many superflares on solar type stars that has extended the applicability of the fractal reconnection model of solar flares to much a wider parameter space suitable for stellar flares are also discussed., Comment: Invited chapter to appear in "Magnetic Reconnection: Concepts and Applications", Springer-Verlag, W. D. Gonzalez and E. N. Parker, eds. (2016), 33 pages, 18 figures

Observations revealed that various kinds of oscillations are excited in solar flare regions. Quasi-periodic pulsations (QPPs) in the flare emissions are commonly observed in a wide range of wavelengths. Recent observations have found that fast-mode magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves are quasi-periodically emitted from some flaring sites (quasi-periodic propagating fast-mode magnetoacoustic waves; QPFs). Both of QPPs and QPFs imply a cyclic disturbance originating from the flaring sites. However, the physical mechanisms remain puzzling. By performing a set of two-dimensional MHD simulations of a solar flare, we discovered the local oscillation above the loops filled with evaporated plasma (above-the-loop-top region) and the generation of QPFs from such oscillating regions. Unlike all previous models for QPFs, our model includes essential physics for solar flares, such as magnetic reconnection, heat conduction, and chromospheric evaporation. We revealed that QPFs can be spontaneously excited by the above-the-loop-top oscillation. It was found that this oscillation is controlled by the backflow of the reconnection outflow. The new model revealed that flare loops and the above-the-loop-top region are full of shocks and waves, which is different from the previous expectations based on a standard flare model and previous simulations. In this paper, we will show the QPF generation process based on our new picture of flare loops and will briefly discuss a possible relationship between QPFs and QPPs. Our findings will change the current view of solar flares to a new view in which they are a very dynamic phenomenon with full of shocks and waves., Comment: 30 pages, 9 figures, published in ApJ

The role of slow-mode MHD shocks in magnetic reconnection is one of great importance for energy conversion and transport, but in many astrophysical plasmas the plasma is not fully ionised. In this paper, we investigate, using numerical simulations, the role of collisional coupling between a proton-electron charge-neutral fluid and a neutral hydrogen fluid for the 1D Riemann problem initiated in a constant pressure and density background state by a discontinuity in the magnetic field. This system, in the MHD limit, is characterised by two waves: a fast-mode rarefaction wave that drives a flow towards a slow-mode MHD shock. The system evolves through four stage: initiation, weak coupling, intermediate coupling and a quasi steady state. The initial stages are characterised by an over-pressured neutral region that expands with characteristics of a blast wave. In the later stages, the system tends towards a self-similar solution where the main drift velocity is concentrated in the thin region of the shock front. Due to the nature of the system, the neutral fluid is overpressured by the shock when compared to a purely hydrodynamic shock which results in the neutral fluid expanding to form the shock precursor. The thickness of the shockfront once it has formed proportional to the ionisation fraction to the power -1.2, which is a smaller exponent than would be naively expected from simple scaling arguments. One interesting result is that the shock front is a continuous transition of the physical variables for sub-sonic velocity upstream of the shock front (a c-shock) to a sharp jump in the physical variables followed by a relaxation to the downstream values for supersonic upstream velocity (a j-shock). The frictional heating that results from the velocity drift across the shock front can amount to approximately two per cent of the reference magnetic energy., Comment: 16 pages, 19 figures, published in A&A

We carried out a magnetohydrodynamics simulation where a subsurface twisted kink-unstable flux tube emerges from the solar interior to the corona. Unlike the previous expectations based on the bodily emergence of a knotted tube, we found that the kinked tube can spontaneously form a complex quadrupole structure at the photosphere. Due to the development of the kink instability before the emergence, the magnetic twist at the kinked apex of the tube is greatly reduced, although the other parts of the tube is still strongly twisted. This leads to the formation of a complex quadrupole structure: a pair of the coherent, strongly twisted spots and a narrow complex bipolar pair between it. The quadrupole is formed by the submergence of a portion of emerged magnetic fields. This result is relevant for understanding of the origin of the complex multipolar $\delta$-spot regions that have a strong magnetic shear and emerge with polarity orientations not following Hale-Nicholson and Joy Laws., Comment: 34 pages, 17 figures, published in ApJ

Magnetic reconnection is an important physical process in various explosive phenomena in the universe. In the previous studies, it was found that fast re- connection takes place when the thickness of a current sheet becomes on the order of a microscopic length such as the ion larmor radius or the ion inertial length. In this study, we investigated the pinching process of a current sheet by the Lorentz force in a low-{\beta} plasma using one-dimensional magnetohydrodynam- ics (MHD) simulations. It is known that there is an exact self-similar solution for this problem that neglects gas pressure. We compared the non-linear MHD dynamics with the analytic self-similar solution. From the MHD simulations, we found that with the gas pressure included the implosion process deviates from the analytic self-similar solution as t {\rightarrow} t 0, where t 0 is the explosion time when the thickness of a current sheet of the analytic solution becomes 0. We also found a pair of MHD fast-mode shocks are generated and propagate after the formation of the pinched current sheet as t {\rightarrow} t 0 . On the basis of the Rankine-Hugoniot relations, we derived the scaling law of the physical quantities with respect to the initial plasma beta in the pinched current sheet. Our study could help us to estimate the physical quantities in the pinched current sheet formed in a low-\b{eta} plasma., Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures. Accepted by ApJ

Solar flares are an explosive phenomenon, where super-sonic flows and shocks are expected in and above the post-flare loops. To understand the dynamics of post-flare loops, a two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (2D MHD) simulation of a solar flare has been carried out. We found new shock structures in and above the post-flare loops, which were not resolved in the previous work by Yokoyama and Shibata 2001. To study the dynamics of flows along the reconnected magnetic field, kinematics and energetics of the plasma are investigated along selected field lines. It is found that shocks are crucial to determine the thermal and flow structures in the post-flare loops. On the basis of the 2D MHD simulation, we have developed a new post-flare loop model which we call the pseudo-2D MHD model. The model is based on the 1D MHD equations, where all the variables depend on one space dimension and all the three components of the magnetic and velocity fields are considered. Our pseudo-2D model includes many features of the multi-dimensional MHD processes related to magnetic reconnection (particularly MHD shocks), which the previous 1D hydrodynamic models are not able to include. We compare the shock formation and energetics of a specific field line in the 2D calculation with those in our pseudo-2D MHD model, and we found that they give similar results. This model will allow us to study the evolution of the post-flare loops in a wide parameter space without expensive computational cost and without neglecting important physics associated with magnetic reconnection., Comment: 51 pages, 22 figures. Accepted by ApJ

We studied the acceleration mechanisms of chromospheric jets associated with emerging flux using a two dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation. We found that slow mode shock waves generated by magnetic reconnection in the chromosphere and the photosphere play key roles in the acceleration mechanisms of chromospheric jets. An important parameter is the height of magnetic reconnection. When magnetic reconnection takes place near the photosphere, the reconnection out- flow collides with the region where the plasma beta is much larger than unity. Then the plasma moves along a magnetic field. This motion generates a slow mode wave. The slow mode wave develops to a strong slow shock as it propagates upward. When the slow shock crosses the transition region, the transition region is lifted up. As a result, we obtain a chromospheric jet as the lifted transition region. When magnetic reconnection takes place in the upper chromosphere, the chromospheric plasma is accelerated due to the combination of the Lorentz force and the whip-like motion of magnetic field. We found that the chromospheric plasma is further accelerated through the interaction between the transition region (steep density gradient) and a slow shock emanating from the reconnection point. This is an MHD effect which has not been discussed before., Comment: PASJ, accepted, 39 pages, 23 figures

We report the simultaneous extreme ultraviolet observation of magnetic reconnection inflow and outflow in a flare on 2010 August 18 observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the {\it Solar Dynamics Observatory}. We found that during the rise phase of the flare, some plasma blobs appeared in the sheet structure above the hot loops. The plasma blobs were ejected bidirectionally along the sheet structure (outflow), at the same time as the threads visible in extreme ultraviolet images moved toward the sheet structure (inflow). The upward and downward ejection velocities are 220-460 km s$^{-1}$ and 250-280 km s$^{-1}$, respectively. The inflow speed changed from 90 km s$^{-1}$ to 12 km s$^{-1}$ in 5 minutes. By using these velocities, we estimated the nondimensional reconnection rate, which we found to vary during this period from 0.20 to 0.055. We also found that the plasma blobs in the sheet structure collided or merged with each other before they were ejected from the sheet structure. We hypothesize that the sheet structure is the current sheet and that these plasma blobs are plasmoids or magnetic islands, which could be important for understanding the dynamics of the reconnection region., Comment: ApJL, accepted, 10 pages, 5 figures