Buildup of a highly twisted magnetic flux rope during a solar eruption

Wang, Wensi; Liu, Rui; Wang, Yuming; Hu, Qiang; Shen, Chenglong; Jiang, Chaowei; Zhu, Chunming

doi:10.1038/s41467-017-01207-x

Cited by 80 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Now that we have shown that it is possible to form a magnetic flux rope through this mechanism, the next step would be to investigate how several zippettes might combine to form a full zipper reconnection event, and how each zippette event contributes to the evolution of magnetic twist in such a flux rope. Such a model would provide a better comparison for the observations of Wang et al (2017). Our twist values are much more closely aligned to those found in Inoue et al (2018).…”

Section: Overlying Flux Rope: Twist and Helicitysupporting

confidence: 63%

“…This rules out a direct comparison between the temporal evolution of magnetic twist in both cases. Our recovery of a magnetic flux rope with an average twist of 2π might initially appear to be much less than the typical values of twist found by Wang et al (2017). However, we note that our model represents only one single component (a socalled "zippette") of the full zipper reconnection picture (which consists of many zippettes occurring one after the other).…”

Section: Overlying Flux Rope: Twist and Helicitymentioning

confidence: 79%

“…In the event studied in Wang et al (2017), two reconnection phases are recovered; however, the first phase (which, in the conceptual model of Priest and Longcope, 2017, would correspond to the zipper reconnection phase) displays characteristics of both zipper reconnection and main-phase reconnection. This rules out a direct comparison between the temporal evolution of magnetic twist in both cases.…”

Section: Overlying Flux Rope: Twist and Helicitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wang et al (2017) combine solar and interplanetary observational data to give a detailed overview of the dynamic formation of a single magnetic flux rope in the solar corona during a tworibbon flare. Crucially, these authors derive estimates for how the poloidal and toroidal flux and the field line twist evolve over time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Flux Rope Formation Due to Shearing and Zipper Reconnection

2018

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Zipper reconnection has been proposed as a mechanism for creating most of the twist in the flux tubes that are present prior to eruptive flares and coronal mass ejections. We have conducted a first numerical experiment on this new regime of reconnection, where two initially untwisted parallel flux tubes are sheared and reconnected to form a large flux rope. We describe the properties of this experiment, including the linkage of magnetic flux between concentrated flux sources at the base of the simulation, the twist of the newly formed flux rope, and the conversion of mutual magnetic helicity in the sheared pre-reconnection state into the self-helicity of the newly formed flux rope.

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Section: Overlying Flux Rope: Twist and Helicitysupporting

confidence: 63%

Section: Overlying Flux Rope: Twist and Helicitymentioning

confidence: 79%

Section: Overlying Flux Rope: Twist and Helicitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Flux Rope Formation Due to Shearing and Zipper Reconnection

2018

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“…After ∼13:32UT, the flux rooted further eastward also becomes involved, which is associated with the onset of the impulsive flare phase. This spatial extension, studied in detail by Wang et al (2017), is not relevant in the present context.…”

Section: Filament Splittingmentioning

confidence: 87%

Unambiguous Evidence of Filament Splitting-induced Partial Eruptions

Cheng

Kliem

Ding

2018

ApJ

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Coronal mass ejections are often considered to result from the full eruption of a magnetic flux rope (MFR). However, it is recognized that, in some events, the MFR may release only part of its flux, with the details of the implied splitting not completely established due to limitations in observations. Here, we investigate two partial eruption events including a confined and a successful one. Both partial eruptions are a consequence of the vertical splitting of a filament-hosting MFR involving internal reconnection. A loss of equilibrium in the rising part of the magnetic flux is suggested by the impulsive onset of both events and by the delayed onset of reconnection in the confined event. The remaining part of the flux might be line-tied to the photosphere in a bald patch (BP) separatrix surface, and we confirm the existence of extended BP sections for the successful eruption. The internal reconnection is signified by brightenings in the body of one filament and between the rising and remaining parts of both filaments. It evolves quickly into the standard current sheet reconnection in the wake of the eruption. As a result, regardless of being confined or successful, both eruptions produce hard X-ray sources and flare loops below the erupting but above the surviving flux, as well as a pair of flare ribbons enclosing the latter.

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Understanding the Twist Distribution Inside Magnetic Flux Ropes by Anatomizing an Interplanetary Magnetic Cloud

Wang

Shen

et al. 2018

JGR Space Physics

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Magnetic flux rope (MFR) is the core structure of the greatest eruptions, that is, the coronal mass ejections (CMEs), on the Sun, and magnetic clouds are posteruption MFRs in interplanetary space. There is a strong debate about whether or not a MFR exists prior to a CME and how the MFR forms/grows through magnetic reconnection during the eruption. Here we report a rare event, in which a magnetic cloud was observed sequentially by four spacecraft near Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, respectively. With the aids of a uniform‐twist flux rope model and a newly developed method that can recover a shock‐compressed structure, we find that the axial magnetic flux and helicity of the magnetic cloud decreased when it propagated outward but the twist increased. Our analysis suggests that the “pancaking” effect and “erosion” effect may jointly cause such variations. The significance of the pancaking effect is difficult to be estimated, but the signature of the erosion can be found as the imbalance of the azimuthal flux of the cloud. The latter implies that the magnetic cloud was eroded significantly leaving its inner core exposed to the solar wind at far distance. The increase of the twist together with the presence of the erosion effect suggests that the posteruption MFR may have a high‐twist core enveloped by a less‐twisted outer shell. These results pose a great challenge to the current understanding on the solar eruptions as well as the formation and instability of MFRs.

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Buildup of a highly twisted magnetic flux rope during a solar eruption

Cited by 80 publications

References 71 publications

Flux Rope Formation Due to Shearing and Zipper Reconnection

Flux Rope Formation Due to Shearing and Zipper Reconnection

Unambiguous Evidence of Filament Splitting-induced Partial Eruptions

Understanding the Twist Distribution Inside Magnetic Flux Ropes by Anatomizing an Interplanetary Magnetic Cloud

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