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CORONAL MAGNETIC RECONNECTION DRIVEN BY CME EXPANSION-THE 2011 JUNE 7 EVENT

van Driel-Gesztelyi, L; Baker, D; Toeroek, T; Pariat, E; Green, LM; Williams, DR; Carlyle, J; ... Malherbe, J-M; + view all (2014) CORONAL MAGNETIC RECONNECTION DRIVEN BY CME EXPANSION-THE 2011 JUNE 7 EVENT. Astronomical Journal , 788 (85) 10.1088/0004-637X/788/1/85. Green open access

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Abstract

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) erupt and expand in a magnetically structured solar corona. Various indirect observational pieces of evidence have shown that the magnetic field of CMEs reconnects with surrounding magnetic fields, forming, e.g., dimming regions distant from the CME source regions. Analyzing Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) observations of the eruption from AR 11226 on 2011 June 7, we present the first direct evidence of coronal magnetic reconnection between the fields of two adjacent active regions during a CME. The observations are presented jointly with a data-constrained numerical simulation, demonstrating the formation/intensification of current sheets along a hyperbolic flux tube at the interface between the CME and the neighboring AR 11227. Reconnection resulted in the formation of new magnetic connections between the erupting magnetic structure from AR 11226 and the neighboring active region AR 11227 about 200 Mm from the eruption site. The onset of reconnection first becomes apparent in the SDO/AIA images when filament plasma, originally contained within the erupting flux rope, is redirected toward remote areas in AR 11227, tracing the change of large-scale magnetic connectivity. The location of the coronal reconnection region becomes bright and directly observable at SDO/AIA wavelengths, owing to the presence of down-flowing cool, dense (1010 cm–3) filament plasma in its vicinity. The high-density plasma around the reconnection region is heated to coronal temperatures, presumably by slow-mode shocks and Coulomb collisions. These results provide the first direct observational evidence that CMEs reconnect with surrounding magnetic structures, leading to a large-scale reconfiguration of the coronal magnetic field.

Type: Article
Title: CORONAL MAGNETIC RECONNECTION DRIVEN BY CME EXPANSION-THE 2011 JUNE 7 EVENT
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/788/1/85
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/788/1/85
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Science & Technology, Physical Sciences, Astronomy & Astrophysics, magnetic reconnection, magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), Sun: corona, Sun: coronal mass ejections (CMEs), Sun: magnetic fields, Sun: UV radiation, DYNAMICS-OBSERVATORY SDO, DERIVING PROMINENCE MASS, HYPERBOLIC FLUX TUBES, SOLAR-FLARE, ABSORPTION FEATURES, RETURNING PLASMA, EJECTION, ERUPTION, MODEL, WAVE
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1432933
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