Skip to main content

Volume 53 Supplement 6

Special Issue: Magnetic Reconnection in Space and Laboratory Plasmas

  • Article
  • Published:

Global destabilization due to localized reconnection: A mechanism for coronal mass ejections

Abstract

Solar CMEs are large scale eruptive phenomena, while flux emergence is a local event on the Sun. Our numerical simulations show that two categories of reconnection-favored emerging flux can trigger the destabilization and the ejection of the filament (i.e., CME): within the filament channel or on the outer edge of the channel, which confirms recent important observations by Feynman and Martin (1995). In particular for the latter category, numerical results show that there is a critical amount for the emerging flux, below which the flux rope eruption cannot be triggered. Our numerical model, for the first time, provides a physical explanation for the observed correlation between CMEs and the reconnection-favored emerging flux.

References

  • Chen, J. and D. A. Garren, Interplanetary magnetic clouds: Topology and driving mechanism, Geophys. Res. Lett., 20, 2319–2322, 1993.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, P. F. and K. Shibata, An emerging flux trigger mechanism for coronal mass ejections, ApJ, 545, 524–531, 2000.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, P. F., C. Fang, M. D. Ding, and Y. H. Tang, Flaring loop motion and a unified model for solar flares, ApJ, 520, 853–858, 1999.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Datlowe, D. W., M. J. Elcan, and H. S. Hudson, OSO-7 observations of solar X-rays in the energy range 10–100 keV, Solar Phys., 39, 155–174, 1974.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feynman, J. and S. F. Martin, The initiation of coronal mass ejections by newly emerging magnetic flux, JGR, 100, 3355–3367, 1995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forbes, T. G. and E. R. Priest, Photospheric magnetic field evolution and eruptive flares, ApJ, 446, 377–389, 1995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, R. A., P. W. Waggett, R. D. Bentley, K. J. H. Phillips, M. Bruner, M. Dryer, and G. M. Simnett, The X-ray signature of solar coronal mass, Solar Phys., 97, 387–400, 1985.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu, Y. Q., A multistep implicit scheme for time-dependent 2-dimensional MHD flows, J. Comput. Phys., 84, 441–460, 1989.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hundhausen, A., The Many Faces of the Sun, edited by K. Strong, J. Saba, B. Haisch, and J. Schmelz, Berlin, Springer, pp. 143–200, 1999.

  • Inhester, B., J. Birn, and M. Hesse, The evolution of line-tied coronal arcades including a converging footpoint motion, Solar Phys., 138, 257–281, 1992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuperus, M. and M. A. Raadu, The support of prominences formed in neutral sheets, A&A, 31, 189–193, 1974.

    Google Scholar 

  • Low, B. C. and D. F. Smith, The free energies of partially open coronal magnetic fields, ApJ, 410, 412–425, 1993.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mikić, Z. and J. A. Linker, Disruption of coronal magnetic field arcades, ApJ, 430, 898–912, 1994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shibata, K., S. Nozawa, and R. Matsumoto, Magnetic reconnection associated with emerging magnetic flux, PASJ, 44, 265–272, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tajima, T. and K. Shibata, Plasma Astrophysics, Addison-Wesley, 1997.

  • Wu, S. T. and W. P. Guo, Coronal Mass Ejections: Geophysical Monogr. 99, edited by N. Crooker, J. A. Joselyn, and J. Feynman, pp. 83–89, AGU, Washington, D.C., 1997.

  • Yokoyama, T. and K. Shibata, Numerical simulation of solar coronal X-ray jets based on the magnetic reconnection model, PASJ, 48, 353–376, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to P. F. Chen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chen, P.F., Shibata, K. & Yokoyama, T. Global destabilization due to localized reconnection: A mechanism for coronal mass ejections. Earth Planet Sp 53, 611–614 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353279

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353279

Keywords