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Kink Instability of Flux Ropes in Partially Ionized Plasmas

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal
 [1];  [2];  [2]
  1. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Univ. of Exeter, Devon (United Kingdom)
  2. Univ. of Exeter, Devon (United Kingdom)
+ Show Author Affiliations
In the solar atmosphere, flux ropes are subject to current-driven instabilities that are crucial in driving plasma eruptions, ejections, and heating. A typical ideal magnetohydrodynamics instability developing in flux ropes is the helical kink, which twists the flux rope axis. The growth of this instability can trigger magnetic reconnection, which can explain the formation of chromospheric jets and spicules, but its development has never been investigated in a partially ionized plasma (PIP). Here, we study the kink instability in PIP to understand how it develops in the solar chromosphere, where it is affected by charge-neutral interactions. Partial ionization speeds up the onset of the nonlinear phase of the instability, as the plasma β of the isolated plasma is smaller than the total plasma β of the bulk. The distribution of the released magnetic energy changes in fully ionized plasma and PIP, with a larger increase in internal energy associated with the PIP cases. The temperature in PIP increases faster also due to heating terms from the two-fluid dynamics. PIP effects trigger kink instability on shorter time scales, which is reflected in more explosive chromospheric flux rope dynamics. These results are crucial to understanding the dynamics of small-scale chromospheric structures—minifilament eruptions—that thus far have been largely neglected but could significantly contribute to chromospheric heating and jet formation.
Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities (SUF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
2583258
Report Number(s):
LA-UR--24-25717; 10.3847/1538-4357/ad79f6; 1538-4357
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 977; ISSN 0004-637X; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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  • Bareford, M. R.; Hood, A. W.
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 373, Issue 2042 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2014.0266
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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
Solar chromosphere
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