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Item The topology of magnetic reconnection in solar flares(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2007) Des Jardins, Angela Colman; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Richard Canfield; Dana Longcope (co-chair)In order to better understand the location and evolution of magnetic reconnection, which is thought to be the energy release mechanism in solar flares, I combine the analysis of hard X-ray (HXR) sources observed by RHESSI with a three-dimensional, quantitative magnetic charge topology (MCT) model. I first examine the evolution of reconnection by analyzing the relationship between observed HXR footpoint motions and a topological feature called spine lines. With a high degree of confidence, I find that the HXR footpoints sources moved along the spine lines. The standard two dimensional flare model cannot explain this relationship. Therefore, I present a three dimensional model in which the movement of footpoints along spine lines can be understood. To better analyze the location of reconnection, I developed a more detailed method for representing photospheric magnetic fields in the MCT model.