Numerical exploration of a b-class flare using the synergy between XSM, GOES, AIA, and HMI

Solar flares are sudden, explosive events on the Sun in which magnetic energy, ranging from 1023 to 1032 erg, is released in the form of heat and acceleration of charged particles, along with a rearrangement of magnetic field lines by magnetic reconnection. Energetically large flares affect the near-Earth space weather and have been extensively studied. In contrast, microflares and nanoflares are relatively less explored, since their detection requires more sensitive observations. However, a systematic and holistic study of these flares can contribute to the physics of small-scale energy release events and to their role in research problems related to both chromospheric and coronal heating. Consequently, this paper investigates magnetic reconnection in a Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) B-class flare, loosely classified as a microflare, using multi-instrument data and 3D data-constrained magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations. Light curves of the Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) and GOES are compared, showing that preflare (phase-1) and impulsive phases (phase-2) of the flare are better resolved by XSM. Non-force-free field extrapolations of the host active region (AR12759) reveal two hyperbolic flux tubes (HFTs). To understand the reconnection details of phase 1 and phase 2, data-constrained MHD simulations are carried out using the extrapolated data as input to the MHD code—EULAG-MHD, identifying one of the HFTs as the reconnection site of the observed flare. Furthermore, a comparison of the two phases is made, suggesting a near similarity in terms of the reconnection mechanism and dynamics of reconnected field lines; however, details of energetics—particularly dissipation and the conversion of magnetic energy to kinetic energy—are different.