A CIRCULAR-RIBBON SOLAR FLARE FOLLOWING AN ASYMMETRIC FILAMENT ERUPTION
- Space Weather Research Laboratory, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University Heights, Newark, NJ 07102-1982 (United States)
- CAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026 (China)
- LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universits, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Univ. Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, F-92190 Meudon (France)
- Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Justus-von-Liebig Weg 3, D-37077 Göttingen (Germany)
- W. W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-4085 (United States)
- University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Bahnhofstrasse 6, 5210 Windisch (Switzerland)
The dynamic properties of flare ribbons and the often associated filament eruptions can provide crucial information on the flaring coronal magnetic field. This Letter analyzes the GOES-class X1.0 flare on 2014 March 29 (SOL2014-03-29T17:48), in which we found an asymmetric eruption of a sigmoidal filament and an ensuing circular flare ribbon. Initially both EUV images and a preflare nonlinear force-free field model show that the filament is embedded in magnetic fields with a fan-spine-like structure. In the first phase, which is defined by a weak but still increasing X-ray emission, the western portion of the sigmoidal filament arches upward and then remains quasi-static for about five minutes. The western fan-like and the outer spine-like fields display an ascending motion, and several associated ribbons begin to brighten. Also found is a bright EUV flow that streams down along the eastern fan-like field. In the second phase that includes the main peak of hard X-ray (HXR) emission, the filament erupts, leaving behind two major HXR sources formed around its central dip portion and a circular ribbon brightened sequentially. The expanding western fan-like field interacts intensively with the outer spine-like field, as clearly seen in running difference EUV images. We discuss these observations in favor of a scenario where the asymmetric eruption of the sigmoidal filament is initiated due to an MHD instability and further facilitated by reconnection at a quasi-null in corona; the latter is in turn enhanced by the filament eruption and subsequently produces the circular flare ribbon.
- OSTI ID:
- 22518796
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 812, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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