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Explaining fast ejections of plasma and exotic X-ray emission from the solar corona

Nature Physics volume 8, pages 845–849 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are the most energetic events in the solar system and can make near-Earth space a hazardous place. However, there is still no consensus as to what physical mechanisms are responsible for these solar eruptions. Here we demonstrate a fundamental connection between the emergence of magnetic flux into the solar atmosphere and the formation of solar eruptions. We present a model of the dynamics of the solar atmosphere and inner solar wind region using a realistic representation of the electric field at the photosphere, calculated from flux-emergence computer simulations, as the boundary conditions. From this, we show how magnetic flux and helicity injection leads to the reorganization of the solar corona. We show evidence for the in situ formation of a CME plasmoid, which is independent of the emerging flux tube, and we conclusively connect this process to the formation of a hot X-ray structure.

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Figure 1: Key features in the flux emergence region at t = 30 min.
Figure 2: Time evolution of the helicity injection rate, dH/dt, the integrated helicity, H, input through the photosphere, and the various forms of energy (magnetic, Emag, kinetic, Ekin, thermal, Eth and total, Etot) for the entire numerical experiment.
Figure 3: Reorganization of the solar corona at advanced stages of the flux emergence.
Figure 4: Confined flux ropes and X-ray emission in the corona.

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Acknowledgements

This research work was supported by CAS grant 2011T2J01 at the YNAO, as well as NSF grant ATM-0639335 (CAREER) at the IfA. We are grateful to P. Biermann, M. Mierla and G. Dima for the useful comments on the manuscript. K.G. acknowledges the access to the Danish Center for Scientific Computing (DCSC) at which the FEM calculations were conducted. N.L. was supported by NSF grant AGS-1239704.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yunnan Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650011, Yunnan, PO Box 110, China

    Ilia I. Roussev & Jun Lin

  2. Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA

    Ilia I. Roussev

  3. Niels Bohr Institute, Juliane Maries Vej 30, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark

    Klaus Galsgaard

  4. Predictive Science, Inc., 9990 Mesa Rim Road, Suite 170, San Diego, California 92121, USA

    Cooper Downs

  5. Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Morse Hall, 8 College Road, Durham, New Hampshire 03824, USA

    Noé Lugaz

  6. Department of AOSS, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA

    Igor V. Sokolov

  7. Institute of Geodynamics of the Romanian Academy, 19-21 Jean-Louis Calderon Street, Bucharest RO-020032, Romania

    Elena Moise

Authors
  1. Ilia I. Roussev
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Contributions

I.I.R. and K.G. planned and performed the numerical simulations using the GSCM and FEM, respectively. I.I.R. and K.G. developed the coupled GSCM–FEM. I.I.R., C.D., N.L. and I.V.S. jointly developed the GSCM. I.V.S. participated in the development of the SWMF. The analysis of the simulation results and their interpretation was done by I.I.R., K.G., C.D., N.L., J.L. and E.M. Figures 1 and 3 were prepared by I.I.R., K.G. and E.M. Figure 2 was generated by J.L., I.I.R. and K.G. Figure 4 was prepared by I.I.R. and C.D. Supplementary Fig. S1 was prepared by I.I.R. The manuscript was written by I.I.R. with feedback from all authors, including significant contributions from K.G., C.D. and N.L.

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Correspondence to Ilia I. Roussev.

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Roussev, I., Galsgaard, K., Downs, C. et al. Explaining fast ejections of plasma and exotic X-ray emission from the solar corona. Nature Phys 8, 845–849 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2427

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