Movies of 2012-10-16 solar flare

Magnetic flux emergence and cancellation were continuously detected within the active region, the latter leading to the formation of two filaments. Our aim is to identify the origins of the flare taking the complex dynamics of its close surroundings into account.

We analyzed the magnetic topology of the active region using a linear force-free field extrapolation to derive its 3D magnetic configuration and the location of quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs), which are preferred sites for flaring activity. Because the active region's magnetic field was nonlinear force-free, we completed a parametric study using different linear force-free field extrapolations to demonstrate the robustness of the derived QSLs.