Complete replacement of magnetic flux in a flux rope during a coronal mass ejection |
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Tingyu Gou Submitted: 2023-05-07 07:49
Solar coronal mass ejections are the most energetic events in the Solar System. In their standard formation model, a magnetic flux rope builds up into a coronal mass ejection through magnetic reconnection that continually converts overlying, untwisted magnetic flux into twisted flux enveloping the pre-existing rope. However, only a minority of coronal mass ejections carry a coherent magnetic flux rope as their core structure, which casts doubt on the universality of this orderly wrapping process. Here we provide observational evidence of a different formation and eruption mechanism of a magnetic flux rope from an S-shaped thread, where its magnetic flux is fully replaced via flare reconnections. One of the footpoints of the sigmoidal feature slipped and expanded during the formation, and then moved to a completely new place, associated with the highly dynamical evolution of flare ribbons and a twofold increase in magnetic flux through the footpoint, during the eruption. Such a configuration is not predicted by standard formation models or numerical simulations and highlights the three-dimensional nature of magnetic reconnections between the flux rope and the surrounding magnetic field.
Authors: Tingyu Gou, Rui Liu, Astrid M. Veronig, Bin Zhuang, Ting Li, Wensi Wang, Mengjiao Xu, Yuming Wang
Projects: IRIS,SDO-AIA
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Publication Status: Nature Astronomy 2023
Last Modified: 2023-05-09 11:15
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