skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: PLASMA JETS AND ERUPTIONS IN SOLAR CORONAL HOLES: A THREE-DIMENSIONAL FLUX EMERGENCE EXPERIMENT

Journal Article · · Astrophysical Journal
 [1];  [2]
  1. Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Via Lactea, s/n, E-38205 La Laguna (Tenerife) (Spain)
  2. Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Mariesvej 30, 2100 Copenhagen (Denmark)

A three-dimensional (3D) numerical experiment of the launching of a hot and fast coronal jet followed by several violent eruptions is analyzed in detail. These events are initiated through the emergence of a magnetic flux rope from the solar interior into a coronal hole. We explore the evolution of the emerging magnetically dominated plasma dome surmounted by a current sheet and the ensuing pattern of reconnection. A hot and fast coronal jet with inverted-Y shape is produced that shows properties comparable to those frequently observed with EUV and X-ray detectors. We analyze its 3D shape, its inhomogeneous internal structure, and its rise and decay phases, lasting for some 15-20 minutes each. Particular attention is devoted to the field line connectivities and the reconnection pattern. We also study the cool and high-density volume that appears to encircle the emerged dome. The decay of the jet is followed by a violent phase with a total of five eruptions. The first of them seems to follow the general pattern of tether-cutting reconnection in a sheared arcade, although modified by the field topology created by the preceding reconnection evolution. The two following eruptions take place near and above the strong-field concentrations at the surface. They show a twisted, {Omega}-loop-like rope expanding in height, with twist being turned into writhe, thus hinting at a kink instability (perhaps combined with a torus instability) as the cause of the eruption. The succession of a main jet ejection and a number of violent eruptions that resemble mini-CMEs and their physical properties suggest that this experiment may provide a model for the blowout jets recently proposed in the literature.

OSTI ID:
22140233
Journal Information:
Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 771, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English