CURRENT SHEET ENERGETICS, FLARE EMISSIONS, AND ENERGY PARTITION IN A SIMULATED SOLAR ERUPTION

Journal Article · Fri Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/721/2/1547· OSTI ID:21464768

Reeves, Katharine K ^[1]; Linker, Jon A; Mikic, Zoran ^[2]

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1. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, MS 58, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
2. Predictive Science, Inc. (PSI), 9990 Mesa Rim Road, Suite 170, San Diego, CA 92121-2910 (United States)

We investigate coronal energy flow during a simulated coronal mass ejection (CME). We model the CME in the context of the global corona using a 2.5D numerical MHD code in spherical coordinates that includes coronal heating, thermal conduction, and radiative cooling in the energy equation. The simulation domain extends from 1 to 20 R{sub s} . To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to apply detailed energy diagnostics in a flare/CME simulation when these important terms are considered in the context of the MHD equations. We find that the energy conservation properties of the code are quite good, conserving energy to within 4% for the entire simulation (more than 6 days of real time). We examine the energy release in the current sheet as the eruption takes place, and find, as expected, that the Poynting flux is the dominant carrier of energy into the current sheet. However, there is a significant flow of energy out of the sides of the current sheet into the upstream region due to thermal conduction along field lines and viscous drag. This energy outflow is spatially partitioned into three separate components, namely, the energy flux flowing out the sides of the current sheet, the energy flowing out the lower tip of the current sheet, and the energy flowing out the upper tip of the current sheet. The energy flow through the lower tip of the current sheet is the energy available for heating of the flare loops. We examine the simulated flare emissions and energetics due to the modeled CME and find reasonable agreement with flare loop morphologies and energy partitioning in observed solar eruptions. The simulation also provides an explanation for coronal dimming during eruptions and predicts that the structures surrounding the current sheet are visible in X-ray observations.

• OSTI ID: 21464768
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 721, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/721/2/1547; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ENERGY CONSERVATION
MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MORPHOLOGY
PHOTON EMISSION
SOLAR CORONA
SOLAR FLARES
SUN
THERMAL CONDUCTION
ATMOSPHERES
EMISSION
ENERGY TRANSFER
FLUID MECHANICS
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDRODYNAMICS
MAIN SEQUENCE STARS
MECHANICS
SIMULATION
SOLAR ACTIVITY
SOLAR ATMOSPHERE
STARS
STELLAR ACTIVITY
STELLAR ATMOSPHERES
STELLAR CORONAE
STELLAR FLARES