POST-FLARE CORONAL LOOP INTERACTION

High-resolution images of post-flare loop systems in Fe XIV (5303 Angs trom) and Fe X (6374 Angstrom) display occasional transient enhancemen ts at the projected intersection of some loops. The brightness of a gr een-line enhancement gradually increases to a marked maximum and then fades with a lifetime of the order of thirty minutes. The red-line ima ge at the same location, although fainter, shows the same overall char acteristics, its maximum following that of the green-line on average b y 8.6 min. H alpha then becomes more evident and reaches a maximum in extent on average 9.3 min after the red-line maximum. The phenomenon i s interpreted as a process of localized loop coalescence involving par tial magnetic reconnection. Estimates of the electron density are deri ved from the cooling time following the initial heating of the plasma in the immediate vicinity of the X-point of interaction. Similar estim ates for the energy dissipated, equivalent to a very small flare, are derived by two independent methods.