From Pseudostreamer Jets to Coronal Mass Ejections: Observations of the Breakout Continuum |
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Pankaj Kumar Submitted: 2021-01-25 09:17
The magnetic breakout model, in which reconnection in the corona leads to destabilization of a filament channel, explains numerous features of eruptive solar events, from small-scale jets to global-scale coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The underlying multipolar topology, pre-eruption activities, and sequence of magnetic reconnection onsets (first breakout, then flare) of many observed fast CMEs/eruptive flares are fully consistent with the model. Recently, we have demonstrated that most observed coronal-hole jets in fan/spine topologies also are induced by breakout reconnection at the null point above a filament channel (with or without a filament). For these two types of eruptions occurring in similar topologies, the key question is, why do some events generate jets while others form CMEs? We focused on the initiation of eruptions in large bright points/small active regions that were located in coronal holes and clearly exhibited null-point (fan/spine) topologies: such configurations are referred to as pseudostreamers. We analyzed and compared SDO/AIA, SOHO/LASCO, and RHESSI observations of three events. Our analysis of the events revealed two new observable signatures of breakout reconnection prior to the explosive jet/CME outflows and flare onset: coronal dimming and the opening-up of field lines above the breakout current sheet. Most key properties were similar among the selected erupting structures, thereby eliminating region size, photospheric field strength, magnetic configuration, and pre-eruptive evolution as discriminating factors between jets and CMEs. We consider the factors that contribute to the different types of dynamic behavior, and conclude that the main determining factor is the ratio of the magnetic free energy associated with the filament channel compared to the energy associated with the overlying flux inside and outside the pseudostreamer dome.
Authors: Pankaj Kumar, Judith T. Karpen , Spiro K. Antiochos, Peter F. Wyper, C. Richard DeVore, and Benjamin J. Lynch
Projects: None
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Publication Status: Published in ApJ
Last Modified: 2021-01-25 12:58
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First Detection of Plasmoids from Breakout Reconnection on the Sun |
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Pankaj Kumar Submitted: 2019-10-29 09:09
Transient collimated plasma ejections (jets) occur frequently throughout the solar corona, in active regions, quiet Sun, and coronal holes. Although magnetic reconnection is generally agreed to be the mechanism of energy release in jets, the factors that dictate the location and rate of reconnection remain unclear. Our previous studies demonstrated that the magnetic breakout model explains the triggering and evolution of most jets over a wide range of scales, through detailed comparisons between our numerical simulations and high-resolution observations. An alternative explanation, the resistive-kink model, invokes breakout reconnection without forming and explosively expelling a flux rope. Here we report direct observations of breakout reconnection and plasmoid formation during two jets in the fan-spine topology of an embedded bipole. For the first time, we observed the formation and evolution of multiple small plasmoids with bidirectional flows associated with fast reconnection in 3D breakout current sheets (BCSs) in the solar corona. The first narrow jet was launched by reconnection at the BCS originating at the deformed 3D null, without significant flare reconnection or a filament eruption. In contrast, the second jet and release of cool filament plasma were triggered by explosive breakout reconnection when the leading edge of the rising flux rope formed by flare reconnection beneath the filament encountered the preexisting BCS. These observations solidly support both reconnection-driven jet models: the resistive kink for the first jet, and the breakout model for the second explosive jet with a filament eruption.
Authors: Pankaj Kumar, Judith T. Karpen, Spiro K. Antiochos, Peter F. Wyper, C. Richard DeVore
Projects: IRIS,SDO-AIA
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Publication Status: Published in ApJ Letters, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab45f9
Last Modified: 2019-10-30 13:06
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Multiwavelength Study of Equatorial Coronal-Hole Jets |
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Pankaj Kumar Submitted: 2019-02-07 07:58
Jets (transient/collimated plasma ejections) occur frequently throughout the solar corona and contribute mass/energy to the corona and solar wind. By combining numerical simulations and high-resolution observations, we have made substantial progress recently on determining the energy buildup and release processes in these jets. Here we describe a study of 27 equatorial coronal-hole jets using Solar Dynamics Observatory/AIA and HMI observations on 2013 June 27-28 and 2014 January 8-10. Out of 27 jets, 18 (67%) are associated with mini-filament ejections; the other 9 (33%) do not show mini-filament eruptions but do exhibit mini-flare arcades and other eruptive signatures. This indicates that every jet in our sample involved a filament-channel eruption. From the complete set of events, 6 jets (22%) are apparently associated with tiny flux-cancellation events at the polarity inversion line, and 2 jets (7%) are associated with sympathetic eruptions of filaments from neighboring bright points. Potential-field extrapolations of the source-region photospheric magnetic fields reveal that all jets originated in the fan-spine topology of an embedded bipole associated with an extreme ultraviolet coronal bright point. Hence, all our jets are in agreement with the breakout model of solar eruptions. We present selected examples and discuss the implications for the jet energy build-up and initiation mechanisms.
Authors: Pankaj Kumar, Judith T. Karpen, Spiro K. Antiochos, Peter F. Wyper, C. Richard DeVore, Craig E. DeForest
Projects: None
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Publication Status: ApJ (in press), 16 pages, 6 figures
Last Modified: 2019-02-07 10:24
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Evidence For The Magnetic Breakout Model in an Equatorial Coronal-Hole Jet |
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Pankaj Kumar Submitted: 2018-02-05 19:56
Small, impulsive jets commonly occur throughout the solar corona, but are especially visible in coronal holes. Evidence is mounting that jets are part of a continuum of eruptions that extends to much larger coronal mass ejections and eruptive flares. Because coronal-hole jets originate in relatively simple magnetic structures, they offer an ideal testbed for theories of energy buildup and release in the full range of solar eruptions. We analyzed an equatorial coronal-hole jet observed by SDO/AIA on 09 January 2014, in which the magnetic-field structure was consistent with the embedded-bipole topology that we identified and modeled previously as an origin of coronal jets. In addition, this event contained a mini-filament, which led to important insights into the energy storage and release mechanisms. SDO/HMI magnetograms revealed footpoint motions in the primary minority-polarity region at the eruption site, but show negligible flux emergence or cancellation for at least 16 hours before the eruption. Therefore, the free energy powering this jet probably came from magnetic shear concentrated at the polarity inversion line within the embedded bipole. We find that the observed activity sequence and its interpretation closely match the predictions of the breakout jet model, strongly supporting the hypothesis that the breakout model can explain solar eruptions on a wide range of scales.
Authors: Kumar, Pankaj; Karpen, Judith T.; Antiochos, Spiro K.; Wyper, Peter F.; DeVore, C. Richard; DeForest, Craig E.
Projects: None
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Publication Status: ApJ (in press), 14 pages, 12 figures
Last Modified: 2018-02-05 22:07
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Quasi-Periodic Radio Bursts Associated with Fast-mode Waves near a Magnetic Null Point |
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Pankaj Kumar Submitted: 2017-07-05 13:05
This paper presents an observation of quasi-periodic rapidly-propagating waves observed in the AIA 171/193 Å channels during the impulsive phase of an M1.9 flare occurred on 7 May 2012. The instant period was found to decrease from 240 s to 120 s, the speed of the wave fronts was in the range of ~664-1416 km s-1. Almost simultaneously, quasi-periodic bursts with similar instant periods, ~70 s and ~140 s, occur in the microwave emission and in decimetric type IV, and type III radio bursts, and in the soft X-ray emission. The magnetic field configuration of the flare site was consistent with a breakout topology, i.e., a quadrupolar field along with a magnetic null point. The quasi-periodic rapidly-propagating wavefronts of the EUV emission are interpreted as a fast magnetoacoustic wave train. The observations suggest that the fast-mode waves are generated during the quasi-periodic magnetic reconnection in the cusp-region above the flare arcade loops. For the first time, we provide the evidence of a tadpole wavelet signature at about 70-140 s in decimetric (245/610~MHz) radio bursts, along with the direct observation of a coronal fast-mode wave train in EUV. In addition, at AIA 131/193 Å we observed quasi-periodic EUV disturbances with the periods of 95 s and 240 s propagating downward at the apparent speed of 172-273 km s-1. The nature of these downward propagating disturbances is not revealed, but they could be connected with magnetoacoustic waves or periodically shrinking loops.
Authors: Kumar, Pankaj; Nakariakov, Valery M.; Cho, Kyung-Suk
Projects: None
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Publication Status: ApJ (in press)
Last Modified: 2017-07-06 10:45
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Multiwavelength Observations of a Flux Rope Formation by Series of Magnetic Reconnection in the Chromosphere |
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Pankaj Kumar Submitted: 2017-03-29 20:13
Using high-resolution observations from the 1.6 m New Solar Telescope (NST) operating at the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO), we report direct evidence of merging/reconnection of cool Hα loops in the chromosphere during two homologous flares (B- and C-class) caused by a shear motion at the footpoint of two loops. The reconnection between these loops caused the formation of an unstable flux rope which showed counterclockwise rotation. The flux rope could
not reach the height of torus instability and failed to form a coronal mass ejection. The HMI magnetograms revealed rotation of the negative/positive (N1/P2) polarity sunspots in the opposite directions, which increased the right
and left-handed twist in the magnetic structures rooted at N1/P2. Rapid photospheric flux cancellation (duration~20-30 min, rate≈3.44x1020 Mx h-1) was observed during and even after the first B6.0 flare and continued until the end of the second C2.3 flare. The RHESSI X-ray sources were located at the site of the loop's
coalescence. To the best of our knowledge, such a clear interaction of chromospheric loops along with rapid flux cancellation has not been reported before. These high-resolution observations suggest the formation of a small flux rope by a series of magnetic reconnection within chromospheric loops associated with very rapid flux cancellation.
Authors: Pankaj Kumar, Vasyl Yurchyshyn, Kyung-Suk Cho, Haimin Wang
Projects: None
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Publication Status: A&A, in press, 12 pages, 12 figures
Last Modified: 2017-03-30 16:18
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Observation of a Quasi-periodic Pulsation in Hard X-ray, Radio and Extreme-ultraviolet Wavelengths |
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Pankaj Kumar Submitted: 2016-03-14 20:13
We present multi-wavelength analysis of a quasi-periodic pulsation (QPP)
observed in the hard X-ray, radio, and extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) channels
during an M1.9 flare occurred on 23-24 September 2011. The non-thermal hard
X-ray emission in 25-50 keV observed by RHESSI shows five distinct impulsive
peaks of decaying amplitude with a period of about three minutes. Similar QPP
was observed in the microwave emission recorded by the Nobeyama Radioheliograph
and Polarimeter in the 8.8, 15, 17 GHz channels. Interestingly, the 3-min QPP
was also observed in the metric and decimetric radio frequencies (25-180, 245,
610 MHz) as repetitive type III bursts. Multi-wavelength observations from the
SDO/AIA, Hinode/SOT, and STEREO/SECCHI suggest a fan-spine topology at the
eruption site, associated with the formation of a quasi-circular ribbon during
the flare. A small filament was observed below the fan-loops before the flare
onset. The filament rose slowly and interacted with the ambient field. This
behaviour was followed by an untwisting motion of the filament. Two different
structures of the filament showed ~3-min periodic alternate rotation in
the clockwise and counterclockwise directions. The 3-min QPP was found to
highly correlate with 3-min oscillations in a nearby sunspot. We suggest that
the periodic reconnection (modulated either by sunspot slow-mode wave or by
untwisting filament) at a magnetic null-point most likely causes the repetitive
particle acceleration, generating the QPP observed in hard X-ray, microwave and
type III radio bursts.
Authors: Pankaj Kumar, Valery M. Nakariakov, Kyung-Suk Cho
Projects: None
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Publication Status: ApJ (in press)
Last Modified: 2016-03-15 11:24
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X-ray and EUV Observations of Simultaneous Short and Long Period Oscillations in Hot Coronal Arcade Loops |
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Pankaj Kumar Submitted: 2015-02-25 18:35
We report decaying quasi-periodic intensity oscillations in the X-ray (6-12 keV) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) channels (131, 94, 1600, 304 Å) observed by the Fermi GBM (Gamma-ray Burst Monitor) and SDO/AIA, respectively, during a C-class flare. The estimated period of oscillation and decay time in the X-ray channel (6-12 keV) was about 202 s and 154 s, respectively. A similar oscillation period was detected at the footpoint of the arcade loops in the AIA 1600 and 304 Å channels. Simultaneously, AIA hot channels (94 and 131 A) reveal propagating EUV disturbances bouncing back and forth between the footpoints of the arcade loops. The period of the oscillation and decay time were about 409 s and 1121 s, respectively. The characteristic phase speed of the wave is about 560 km s-1 for about 115 Mm loop length, which is roughly consistent with the sound speed at the temperature about 10-16 MK (480-608 km s-1). These EUV oscillations are consistent with the SOHO/SUMER Doppler-shift oscillations interpreted as the global standing slow magnetoacoustic wave excited by a flare. The flare occurred at one of the footpoints of the arcade loops, where the magnetic topology was a 3D fan-spine with a null-point. Repetitive reconnection at this footpoint could cause the periodic acceleration of non-thermal electrons that propagated to the opposite footpoint along the arcade and precipitating there, causing the observed 202-s periodicity. Other possible interpretations, e.g. the second harmonics of the slow mode are also discussed.
Authors: Pankaj Kumar, Valery M. Nakariakov, Kyung-Suk Cho
Projects: None
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Publication Status: ApJ (in press)
Last Modified: 2015-03-02 09:53
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Evolution of Solar Magnetic Field and Associated Multiwavelength Phenomena: Flare Events on 2003 November 20 |
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Pankaj Kumar Submitted: 2010-01-29 05:23
We analyze Hα images, soft X-ray profiles, magnetograms, extreme ultra-violet images and, radio observations of two homologous flare events (M1.4/1N and M9.6/2B) on 2003 November 20 in the active region NOAA 10501
and study properties of reconnection between twisted filament systems, energy release, and associated launch of coronal mass ejections. During both events twisted filaments observed in Hα approached each other and initiated
the flare processes. However, the second event showed the formation of cusp as the filaments interacted. The
rotation of sunspots of opposite polarities, inferred from the magnetograms likely powered the twisted filaments
and injection of helicity. Along the current sheet between these two opposite polarity sunspots, the shear was
maximum, which could have caused the twist in the filament. At the time of interaction between filaments, the
reconnection took place and flare emission in thermal and nonthermal energy ranges attained the maximum. The radio signatures revealed the opening of field lines resulting from the reconnection. The Hα images and radio data provide the inflow speed leading to reconnection and the scale size of the particle acceleration region. The
first event produced a narrow and slow CME, whereas the later one was associated with a fast full halo CME. The halo CME signatures observed between the Sun and Earth using white-light and scintillation images and in situ measurements indicated the magnetic energy utilized in the expansion and propagation. The magnetic cloud signature at the Earth confirmed the flux rope ejected at the time of filament interaction and reconnection.
Authors: Pankaj Kumar, P. K. Manoharan, Wahab Uddin
Projects: None
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Publication Status: published in ApJ, 2010 January 28
Last Modified: 2010-01-29 09:59
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