Eruption of Solar Magnetic Flux Ropes Caused by Flux Feeding
Abstract
Large-scale solar eruptions are believed to have a magnetic flux rope as the core structure. However, it remains elusive as to how the flux rope builds up and what triggers its eruption. Recent observations found that a prominence erupted following multiple episodes of "flux feeding." During each episode, a chromospheric fibril rose and merged with the prominence lying above. In this Letter, we carried out 2.5-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) numerical simulations to investigate whether the flux-feeding mechanism can explain such an eruption. The simulations demonstrate that the discrete emergence of small flux ropes can initiate eruptions by feeding axial flux into the preexistent flux rope until its total axial flux reaches a critical value. The onset of the eruption is dominated by an ideal MHD process. Our simulation results corroborate that the flux feeding is a viable mechanism to cause the eruption of solar magnetic flux ropes.
Publication Date
7-20-2020
Journal Title
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Publisher
IOP
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
Zhang, Quanhao; Wang, Yuming; Liu, Rui; Zhang, Jie; Hu, Youqiu; Wang, Wensi; Zhuang, Bin; Li, Xiaolei (2020). Eruption of Solar Magnetic Flux Ropes Caused by Flux Feeding, ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS. Vol. 898, No. 1. DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aba1f3