Large-scale brightenings associated with flares

Abstract

It is shown that large-scale brightenings (LSBs) associated with solar flares, similar to the 'giant arches' discovered by Svestka et al. (1982) in images obtained by the SSM HXIS hours after the onset of two-ribbon flares, can also occur in association with confined flares in complex active regions. For these events, a clear link between the LSB and the underlying flare is clearly evident from the active-region magnetic field topology. The implications of these findings are discussed within the framework of the interacting loops of flares and the giant arch phenomenology.