Where do flare ribbons stop?

The standard flare model,which was proposed based on observations and magnetohydrodynamic theory,can successfully explain many observational features of solar flares.However,this model is just a framework,with many details awaiting to be filled in, including how reconnection is triggered.In this paper,we address an unanswered question:where do flare ribbons stop?With the data analysis of the 2003 May 29 flare event,we tentatively confirmed our conjecture that flare ribbons finally stop at the intersection of separatrices(or quasi-separatrix layer in a general case)with the solar surface.Once verified,such a conjecture can be used to predict the final size and even the lifetime of solar flares.