Scientists reveal magnetic reconnection details that trigger solar filament eruption

The eruption of a solar filament produces a coronal mass ejection, which is a significant driver of space climate. Understanding how filaments erupt is thus important for space climate forecasting.

Each observations and simulations counsel that filament eruption is carefully associated to magnetic flux emergence. It’s thought that eruption is triggered by magnetic reconnection between a filament and an rising flux. Nevertheless, particulars of such a reconnection have not often been introduced.

Lately, a analysis crew led by Dr. Li Leping from the Nationwide Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese language Academy of Sciences (NAOC) has revealed the small print of reconnection between a filament and its close by rising fields, which led to the reconfiguration and subsequent partial eruption of the filament.

The examine was printed in The Astrophysical Journal on August 18.

Within the lively area NOAA 12816, a filament was situated over the polarity inversion strains on April 21, 2021. Close to the northwestern endpoints of the filament, magnetic fields emerged and reconnected with the filament, forming a newly reconnected filament and loops.

A present sheet repeatedly occurred on the interface of the filament and its close by rising fields. “So as to perceive the detailed reconnection, we measured some parameters of the present sheets, such because the size, width, reconnection price, temperature, emission measure, and electron quantity density,” stated Dr. Li, first writer of the examine.

Vibrant plasmoids fashioned within the present sheet, propagating alongside it bidirectionally, and additional alongside the newly reconnected filament and loops. “This outcome signifies the presence of plasmoid instabilities throughout the reconnection course of,” stated Prof. Hardi Peter from the Max-Planck Institute for Photo voltaic System Analysis, a co-author of the examine.

The newly reconnected filament then erupted, whereas the unreconnected filament remained steady. The filament thus solely partially erupted. “These outcomes counsel that the reconnection-favored orientation of the rising fields close to the filament alone can’t outcome within the eruption of the entire filament,” stated Dr. Li. “Another parameters, such because the place, distance, power, and space, are additionally essential for triggering the filament eruption.”