Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: We present high-resolution 2.5D MHD simulation results of magnetic breakout-initiated coronal mass ejections (CMEs) originating from a coronal pseudostreamer configuration. The coronal null point in the magnetic topology of pseudostreamers means that the initiation of consecutive sympathetic eruptions is a natural consequence of the system's evolution. A generic source region energization process—ideal footpoint shearing parallel to the pseudostreamer arcade polarity inversion lines—is all that is necessary to store sufficient magnetic energy to power consecutive CME eruptions given that the pseudostreamer topology enables the breakout initiation mechanism. The second CME occurs because the eruptive flare reconnection of the first CME simultaneously acts as the overlying pre-eruption breakout reconnection for the sympathetic eruption. We examine the details of the magnetic and kinetic energy evolution and the signatures of the overlying null point distortion, current sheet formation, and magnetic breakout reconnection giving rise to the runaway expansion that drives the flare reconnection below the erupting sheared field core. The numerical simulation's spatial resolution and output cadence are sufficient to resolve the formation of magnetic islands during the reconnection process in both the breakout and eruptive flare current sheets. We quantify the flux transfer between the pseudostreamer arcades and show that the eruptive flare reconnection processes flux ∼10 times faster than the pre-eruption breakout reconnection. We show that the breakout reconnection jets cause bursty, intermittent upflows along the pseudostreamer stalk, as well as downflows in the adjacent pseudostreamer arcade, both of which may be observable as pre-eruption signatures. Finally, we examine the flux rope CME trajectories and show that the breakout current sheet provides a path of least resistance as an imbalance in the surrounding magnetic energy density and results in a non-radial CME deflection early in the eruption.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
Authors: B. J. Lynch, J. K. Edmondson
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: G1523888516, HOW AND WHY DOES THE SUN VARY? UNDERSTANDING THE FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICAL PROCESSES THAT UNDERLIE SOLAR ACTIVITY IS A CENTRAL THRUST OF NASA'S HELIOPHYSI, QUANTITATIVE VALIDATION AND ASSESSMENTS OF SOLAR/HELIOSPHERIC 3D MODELING CODES USING EMPIRICAL DATA FROM REMOTE-SENSING AND IN SITU MEASUREMENTSWE, THIS PROPOSAL IS FOCUSED ON TWO FUNDAMENTAL CHALLENGES THAT HAVE PLAGUED OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE ORIGIN OF THE SLOW SOLAR WIND: 1) THE SLOW SOLAR WI, G7807745527
OpenAlex ID: W2009458073