Observation of An Evolving Magnetic Flux Rope Prior To and During A Solar Eruption

Abstract

Explosive energy release is a common phenomenon occurring in magnetized plasma systems ranging from laboratories, Earth's magnetosphere, the solar corona and astrophysical environments. Its physical explanation is usually attributed to magnetic reconnection in a thin current sheet. Here we report the important role of magnetic flux rope structure, a volumetric current channel, in producing explosive events. The flux rope is observed as a hot channel prior to and during a solar eruption from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) telescope on board the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO). It initially appears as a twisted and writhed sigmoidal structure with a temperature as high as 10 MK and then transforms toward a semi-circular shape during a slow rise phase, which is followed by fast acceleration and onset of a flare. The observations suggest that the instability of the magnetic flux rope trigger the eruption, thus making a major addition to the traditional magnetic-reconnection paradigm.

13 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Torus instability
• Sigmoid-to-Flux-Rope Transition Leading to A Loop-Like Coronal Mass Ejection
• A Magnetohydrodynamic Model for the Formation of Episodic Jets
• Flux Rope Formation Preceding Coronal Mass Ejection Onset

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• Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging of Three-dimensional Magnetic Reconnection in a Solar Eruption
• New Vacuum Solar Telescope observations of a flux rope tracked by a filament activation
• Initiation and Eruption Process of Magnetic Flux Rope from Solar Active Region NOAA 11719 to Earth Directed-CME
• Acceleration phases of a solar filament during its eruption
• Multiwavelength observation of a large-scale flux rope eruption above kinked mini-filament
• On Modeling the Kelvin--Helmholtz Instability in Solar Atmosphere
• First Taste of Hot Channel in Interplanetary Space