Global Energetics of Solar Flares. VI. Refined Energetics of Coronal Mass Ejections

Journal Article · Wed Sep 20 04:00:00 EDT 2017 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/AA8952· OSTI ID:22875770

In this study, we refine the coronal mass ejection (CME) model that was presented in an earlier study of the global energetics of solar flares and associated CMEs and apply it to all (860) GOES M- and X-class flare events observed during the first seven years (2010–2016) of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) mission. The model refinements include (1) the CME geometry in terms of a 3D volume undergoing self-similar adiabatic expansion, (2) the solar gravitational deceleration during the propagation of the CME, which discriminates between eruptive and confined CMEs, (3) a self-consistent relationship between the CME center-of-mass motion detected during EUV dimming and the leading-edge motion observed in white-light coronagraphs, (4) the equipartition of the CME’s kinetic and thermal energies, and (5) the Rosner–Tucker–Vaiana scaling law. The refined CME model is entirely based on EUV-dimming observations (using Atmospheric Imager Assembly (AIA)/SDO data) and complements the traditional white-light scattering model (using Large-Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment (LASCO)/Solar and Heliospheric Observatory data), and both models are independently capable of determining fundamental CME parameters. Comparing the two methods, we find that (1) LASCO is less sensitive than AIA in detecting CMEs (in 24% of the cases), (2) CME masses below m{sub cme}≲10{sup 14} g are underestimated by LASCO, (3) AIA and LASCO masses, speeds, and energies agree closely in the statistical mean after the elimination of outliers, and (4) the CME parameters speed v, emission measure-weighted flare peak temperature T {sub e}, and length scale L are consistent with the following scaling laws: v∝T{sub e}{sup 1/2}, v∝(m{sub cme}){sup 1/4}, and m{sub cme}∝L{sup 2}.

• OSTI ID: 22875770
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 847; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ACCELERATION
CENTER-OF-MASS SYSTEM
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
EMISSION
EXPANSION
MASS
SCALING LAWS
SOLAR CORONA
SOLAR FLARES
SUN