Schematic depiction of the topology, eruption, and reconnection of the magnetic field in our proposed model for blowout jets. Here, as in Figure  1 for standard jets, only a few representative field lines are drawn. Red field lines are those that have been reconnected; these have reconnection-heated X-ray plasma on them. Blue field lines either have not yet been reconnected or will not be reconnected. Top left: the field configuration before the eruption starts. As in Figure  1, the dashed oval is the polarity inversion line around the positive flux of the emerging magnetic arch, and the nearly unstable patch of the current sheet between the base arch and the ambient open field is represented by the curved black line. The field line arching low along the polarity inversion line in the middle of the base arch indicates that the field in the core of the arch is extremely sheared. The open field line in the foreground represents the open field that reconnects with the core field during the blowout eruption of the core field. Top right: onset of the breakout reconnection (marked by the X) as the sheared core field begins to erupt. Bottom left: reconnection and its heated field lines during the blowout eruption of the sheared-core base arch. Bottom right: the X-ray jet at the onset of its decay phase.