  Magneto-optical imaging was used to study a zero-field-cooled MgB2 film at
9.6K where in a slowly increasing field the flux penetrates by abrupt formation
of large dendritic structures. Simultaneously, a gradual flux penetration takes
place, eventually covering the dendrites, and a detailed analysis of this
process is reported. We find an anomalously high gradient of the flux density
across a dendrite branch, and a peak value that decreases as the applied field
goes up. This unexpected behaviour is reproduced by flux creep simulations
based on the non-local field-current relation in the perpendicular geometry.
The simulations also provide indirect evidence that flux dendrites are formed
at an elevated local temperature, consistent with a thermo-magnetic mechanism
of the instability
