Observations of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability driven by dynamic motions in a solar prominence

Abstract

Prominences are incredibly dynamic across the whole range of their observable spatial scales, with observations revealing gravity-driven fluid instabilities, waves, and turbulence. With all these complex motions, it would be expected that instabilities driven by shear in the internal fluid motions would develop. However, evidence of these have been lacking. Here we present the discovery in a prominence, using observations from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), of a shear flow instability, the Kelvin-Helmholtz sinusoidal-mode of a fluid channel, driven by flows in the prominence body. This finding presents a new mechanism through which we can create turbulent motions from the flows observed in quiescent prominences. The observation of this instability in a prominence highlights their great value as a laboratory for understanding the complex interplay between magnetic fields and fluid flows that play a crucial role in a vast range of astrophysical systems.

7 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL

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Cited by in corpus (13)

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• Ion-neutral decoupling in the nonlinear Kelvin--Helmholtz instability: Case of field-aligned flow
• Solar Orbiter Observations of the Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability in the Solar Wind
• Legolas: a modern tool for magnetohydrodynamic spectroscopy
• Transition to turbulence in nonuniform coronal loops driven by torsional Alfven waves
• Coalescence Instability in Chromospheric Partially Ionised Plasmas
• Shocks and instabilities in the partially ionised solar atmosphere
• Response of the solar atmosphere to flux emergence: With emergence-driven prominence formation
• Evolution of Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability in the Fan-Spine Topology
• Future Prospects for Partially Ionised Solar Plasmas: the Prominence Case
• A new view of the solar interface region from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS)
• Observation of Large-Scale Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability Wave Driven by a Coronal Mass Ejection