CONVENTIONAL SOLAR-FLARE THEORY REEXAMINED

Major objections are raised to the fundamental paradigm underlying con ventional solar hare theory, viz., that the required free energy can b e stored in situ at the requisite density in the corona in nonpotentia l magnetic fields by the action of photospheric convective motion, tha t it can be released rapidly through magnetic reconnection by a trigge ring event, and that a significant fraction of this energy is converte d to x rays. An alternative explanation that avoids these difficulties requires that magnetic energy in the form of strongly sheared flux tu bes be stored subphotospherically prior to the hare. It is the emergen ce of this subphotospherically stored magnetic shear energy into the p hotosphere and above, and its rapid conversion through internal magnet ic reconnection to other forms that constitutes an actual flare. (C) 1 997 American Institute of Physics.