Observations of simultaneous coronal loop shrinkage and expansion during the decay phase of a solar flare

We report what we believe are the first direct and unambiguous observations of simultaneous coronal magnetic flux loop shrinkage and expansion during the decay phase of a solar flare. The retracting and expanding loops were observed nearly face-on (i.e., with the loop major axis approximately orthogonal to the line of sight) in emission in imaging data from the Yohkoh Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT). The retracting loop is observed to shrink with a speed of 118 ± 66 km s−1. The faint outward moving loop-like feature occurred ∼200′′ above the shrinking loop during the time of the shrinking loop. We estimate the speed of the outward moving loop was ∼129 ± 74 km s−1. We interpret the shrinking loop and simultaneous outward moving loop as direct evidence for reconnected magnetic field lines during a flare.