Modelling the Global Solar Corona III: Origin of the Hemispheric Pattern of Filaments

Abstract

We consider the physical origin of the hemispheric pattern of filament chirality on the Sun. Our 3D simulations of the coronal field evolution over a period of 6 months, based on photospheric magnetic measurements, were previously shown to be highly successful at reproducing observed filament chiralities. In this paper we identify and describe the physical mechanisms responsible for this success. The key mechanisms are found to be (1) differential rotation of north-south polarity inversion lines, (2) the shape of bipolar active regions, and (3) evolution of skew over a period of many days. As on the real Sun, the hemispheric pattern in our simulations holds in a statistical sense. Exceptions arise naturally for filaments in certain locations relative to bipolar active regions, or from interactions between a number of active regions.

14 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Solar Physics

References in corpus (2)

• Modelling the Global Solar Corona: Filament Chirality Observations and Surface Simulations
• Evolution and Distribution of Current Helicity in Full-Sun Simulations

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Magnetic Flux Transport at the Solar Surface
• Chirality and Magnetic Configurations of Solar Filaments
• Homologous Helical Jets: Observations by IRIS, SDO and Hinode and Magnetic Modeling with Data-Driven Simulations
• Magnetic Flux Rope Identification and Characterization from Observationally-Driven Solar Coronal Models
• Determining the source and eruption dynamics of a stealth CME using NLFFF modelling and MHD simulations
• The Minimal Helicity of Solar Coronal Magnetic Fields