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Register a new userA Numerical Study of Long-Range Magnetic Impacts during Coronal Mass Ejections
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With the global view and high-cadence observations from SDO/AIA and STEREO, many spatially separated solar eruptive events appear to be coupled. However, the mechanisms for sympathetic events are still largely unknown. In this study, we investigate the impact of an erupting flux rope on surrounding solar structures through large-scale magnetic coupling. We build a realistic environment of the solar corona on 2011 February 15 using a global magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) model and initiate coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in active region (AR) 11158 by inserting Gibson-Low analytical flux ropes. We show that a CMEs impact on the surrounding structures depends not only on the magnetic strength of these structures and their distance to the source region, but also on the interaction between the CME with the large-scale magnetic field. Within the CME expansion domain where the flux rope field directly interacts with the solar structures, expansion-induced reconnection often modifies the overlying field, thereby increasing the decay index. This effect may provide a primary coupling mechanism underlying the sympathetic eruptions. The magnitude of the impact is found to depend on the orientation of the erupting flux rope, with the largest impacts occurring when the flux rope is favorably oriented for reconnecting with the surrounding regions. Outside the CME expansion domain, the influence of the CME is mainly through field line compression or post-eruption relaxation. Based on our numerical experiments, we discuss a way to quantify the eruption impact, which could be useful for forecasting purposes.
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Large-scale propagating fronts are frequently observed during solar eruptions, yet it is open whether they are waves or not, partly because the propagation is modulated by coronal structures, whose magnetic field we still cannot measure. However, when a front impacts coronal structures, an opportunity arises for us to look into the magnetic properties of both interacting parties in the low-$beta$ corona. Here we studied large-scale EUV fronts accompanying three coronal mass ejections (CMEs), each originating from a kinking rope-like structure in the NOAA active region (AR) 12371. These eruptions were homologous and the surrounding coronal structures remained stationary. Hence we treated the events as one observed from three different viewing angles, and found that the primary front directly associated with the CME consistently transmits through 1) a polar coronal hole, 2) the ends of a crescent-shaped equatorial coronal hole, leaving a stationary front outlining its AR-facing boundary, and 3) two quiescent filaments, producing slow and diffuse secondary fronts. The primary front also propagates along an arcade of coronal loops and slows down due to foreshortening at the far side, where local plasma heating is indicated by an enhancement in 211 {AA} (Fe XIV) but a dimming in 193 {AA} (Fe XII) and 171 {AA} (Fe IX). The strength of coronal magnetic field is therefore estimated to be $sim,$2 G in the polar coronal hole and $sim,$4 G in the coronal arcade neighboring the active region. These observations substantiate the wave nature of the primary front and shed new light on slow fronts.
White-light observations of the solar corona show that there are two characteristic types of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) in terms of speed-height profiles: so-called fast CMEs that attain high speeds low in the corona and slow CMEs that gradually accelerate from low initial speeds. Low and Zhang (2002) have recently proposed that fast and slow CMEs result from initial states with magnetic configurations characterized by normal prominences (NPs) and inverse prominences (IPs), respectively. To test their theory, we employed a two-dimensional, time-dependent, resistive magnetohydrodynamic code to simulate the expulsion of CMEs in these two different prominence environments. Our numerical simulations demonstrate that (i) a CME-like expulsion is more readily produced in an NP than in an IP environment, and, (ii) a CME originating from an NP environment tends to have a higher speed early in the event than one originating from an IP environment. Magnetic reconnection plays distinct roles in the two different field topologies of these two environments to produce their characteristic CME speed-height profiles. Our numerical simulations support the proposal of Low and Zhang (2002) although the reconnection development for the NP associated CME is different from the one sketched in their theory. Observational implications of our simulations are discussed.
Methods: Stealth CMEs represent a particular class of solar eruptions that are clearly distinguished in coronagraph observations, but they dont have a clear source signature. A particular type of stealth CMEs occurs in the trailing current sheet of a previous ejection, therefore, we used the 2.5D MHD package of the code MPI-AMRVAC to numerically simulate consecutive CMEs by imposing shearing motions onto the inner boundary. The initial magnetic configuration consists of a triple arcade structure embedded into a bimodal solar wind, and the sheared polarity inversion line is found in the southern loop system. The mesh was continuously adapted through a refinement method that applies to current carrying structures. We then compared the obtained eruptions with the observed directions of propagation of an initial multiple coronal mass ejection (MCME) event that occurred in September 2009. We further analysed the simulated ejections by tracking the centre of their flux ropes in latitude and their total speed. Radial Poynting flux computation was employed as well to follow the evolution of electromagnetic energy introduced into the system. Results: Changes within 1% in the shearing speed result in three different scenarios for the second CME, although the preceding eruption seems insusceptible to such small variations. Depending on the applied shearing speed, we thus obtain a failed eruption, a stealth, or a CME driven by the imposed shear, as the second ejection. The dynamics of all eruptions are compared with the observed directions of propagation of an MCME event and a good correlation is achieved. The Poynting flux analysis reveals the temporal variation of the important steps of eruptions. For the first time, a stealth CME is simulated in the aftermath of a first eruption, through changes in the applied shearing speed.
Aims. The magnetic field of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) determines their structure, evolution, and energetics, as well as their geoeffectiveness. However, we currently lack routine diagnostics of the near-Sun CME magnetic field, which is crucial for determining the subsequent evolution of CMEs. Methods. We recently presented a method to infer the near-Sun magnetic field magnitude of CMEs and then extrapolate it to 1 AU. This method uses relatively easy to deduce observational estimates of the magnetic helicity in CME-source regions along with geometrical CME fits enabled by coronagraph observations. We hereby perform a parametric study of this method aiming to assess its robustness. We use statistics of active region (AR) helicities and CME geometrical parameters to determine a matrix of plausible near-Sun CME magnetic field magnitudes. In addition, we extrapolate this matrix to 1 AU and determine the anticipated range of CME magnetic fields at 1 AU representing the radial falloff of the magnetic field in the CME out to interplanetary (IP) space by a power law with index aB. Results. The resulting distribution of the near-Sun (at 10 Rs ) CME magnetic fields varies in the range [0.004, 0.02] G, comparable to, or higher than, a few existing observational inferences of the magnetic field in the quiescent corona at the same distance. We also find that a theoretically and observationally motivated range exists around aB = -1.6 +-0.2, thereby leading to a ballpark agreement between our estimates and observationally inferred field magnitudes of magnetic clouds (MCs) at L1. Conclusions. In a statistical sense, our method provides results that are consistent with observations.
Stealth coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are events in which there are almost no observable signatures of the CME eruption in the low corona but often a well-resolved slow flux rope CME observed in the coronagraph data. We present results from a three-dimensional numerical magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulation of the 1--2 June 2008 slow streamer blowout CME that Robbrecht et al. (2009) called the CME from nowhere. We model the global coronal structure using a 1.4 MK isothermal solar wind and a low-order potential field source surface representation of the Carrington Rotation 2070 magnetogram synoptic map. The bipolar streamer belt arcade is energized by simple shearing flows applied in the vicinity of the helmet streamers polarity inversion line. The flows are large scale and impart a shear typical of that expected from the differential rotation. The slow expansion of the energized helmet streamer arcade results in the formation of a radial current sheet. The subsequent onset of expansion-induced flare reconnection initiates the stealth CME while gradually releasing the stored magnetic energy. We present favorable comparisons between our simulation results and the multiviewpoint SOHO-LASCO (Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph) and STEREO-SECCHI (Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation) coronagraph observations of the preeruption streamer structure and the initiation and evolution of the stealth streamer blowout CME.
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