Complete replacement of magnetic flux in a flux rope during a coronal mass ejection

Abstract

Solar coronal mass ejections are the most energetic events in the Solar System. In their standard formation model, a magnetic flux rope builds up into a coronal mass ejection through magnetic reconnection that continually converts overlying, untwisted magnetic flux into twisted flux enveloping the pre-existing rope. However, only a minority of coronal mass ejections carry a coherent magnetic flux rope as their core structure, which casts doubt on the universality of this orderly wrapping process. Here we provide observational evidence of a different formation and eruption mechanism of a magnetic flux rope from an S-shaped thread, where its magnetic flux is fully replaced via flare reconnections. One of the footpoints of the sigmoidal feature slipped and expanded during the formation, and then moved to a completely new place, associated with the highly dynamical evolution of flare ribbons and a twofold increase in magnetic flux through the footpoint, during the eruption. Such a configuration is not predicted by standard formation models or numerical simulations and highlights the three-dimensional nature of magnetic reconnections between the flux rope and the surrounding magnetic field.

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Eruption of a Magnetic Flux Rope in a Comprehensive Radiative Magnetohydrodynamic Simulation of flare-productive active regions
• Spectroscopic investigations of a filament reconnecting with coronal loops during a two-ribbon solar flare
• Tracing Field Lines That Are Reconnecting or Expanding or Both
• Multi-Viewpoint Observation of a Failed Prominence Eruption on the Sun
• Falling Threads During Solar Filament Eruptions
• Radio, X-ray, and EUV signatures of internal and external reconnection of an erupting flux rope