The Rayleigh—Taylor instability as a trigger of solar flares

The review of authors’ papers is devoted to the essential role of the Rayleigh—Taylor instability (RTI) as a trigger of flare energy release. We have analyzed two cases of RTI: near coronal loop footpoints and at the loop top. RTI near loop footpoints requires pre-heating of chromospheric plasma. This pre-heating can be realized due to Joule dissipation in partially ionized plasma under condition of the Cowling resistivity. RTI at the loop top arises in current-carrying coronal loop loaded by prominence. We have determined the conditions of RTI as a flare trigger in both cases. It is shown that RTI generates super-Dreicer electric field in the chromospheric parts of a loop. This is the promising solution of longstanding “number problem” of particle acceleration. RTI can be also a cause of prompt (~10 s) hot onset precursor events (HOPE).