Plasmoid-fed prominence formation (PF${}^2$) during flux rope eruption

Abstract

We report a new, plasmoid-fed scenario for the formation of an eruptive prominence (PF${}^2$), involving reconnection and condensation. We use grid-adaptive resistive two-and-a-half-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations in a chromosphere-to-corona setup to resolve this plasmoid-fed scenario. We study a pre-existing flux rope (FR) in the low corona that suddenly erupts due to catastrophe, which also drives a fast shock above the erupting FR. A current sheet (CS) forms underneath the erupting FR, with chromospheric matter squeezed into it. The plasmoid instability occurs and multiple magnetic islands appear in the CS once the Lundquist number reaches $\sim 3.5\times 10^4$. The remnant chromospheric matter in the CS is then transferred to the FR by these newly formed magnetic islands. The dense and cool mass transported by the islands accumulates in the bottom of the FR, thereby forming a prominence during the eruption phase. More coronal plasma continuously condenses into the prominence due to the thermal instability as the FR rises. Due to the fine structure brought in by the PF${}^2$ process, the model naturally forms filament threads, aligned above the polarity inversion line. Synthetic views at our resolution of $15\mathrm{km}$ show many details that may be verified in future high-resolution observations.

15 pages,9 figures, to be published in ApJ

References in corpus (11)

• MPI-AMRVAC for Solar and Astrophysics
• Simulating the in situ condensation process of solar prominences
• Quasi-periodic oscillations in flares and coronal mass ejections associated with magnetic reconnection
• Reconnection-Condensation Model for Solar Prominence Formation
• A fully self-consistent model for solar flares
• Prominence formation by levitation-condensation at extreme resolutions
• Interacting tilt and kink instabilities in repelling current channels
• Measure the Propagation of a halo CME and Its Driven Shock with the Observations from a Single Perspective at Earth
• Forward Modeling of SDO/AIA and X-Ray Emission from a Simulated Flux Rope Ejection
• Ideal MHD instabilities for coronal mass ejections
• Magnetic Island Merging: Two-dimensional MHD Simulation and Test-Particle Modeling

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Thermally enhanced tearing in solar current sheets: explosive reconnection with plasmoid-trapped condensations
• Dynamic formation of multi-threaded prominences in arcade configurations
• Numerical simulations of prominence oscillations triggered by external perturbations
• 3D coupled tearing-thermal evolution in solar current sheets
• Response of the solar atmosphere to flux emergence: With emergence-driven prominence formation
• Numerical study of solar eruption, extreme-ultraviolet wave propagation, and wave-induced prominence dynamics
• Extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) observables of simulated plasmoid-mediated reconnection in the solar corona
• On the dynamics, thermodynamics and fine structure of virtual erupting filaments