Three-dimensional MHD simulation of expanding magnetic flux ropes

TL;DR

This paper presents 3D time-dependent MHD simulations of magnetic flux ropes, replicating key features of laboratory solar prominence eruptions, and explores how different density models affect the final structure.

Contribution

It introduces detailed 3D MHD simulations of flux ropes that replicate experimental observations and examines the impact of density evolution models on the outcomes.

Findings

Reproduced pinching and expansion of current loops

Simulated helical distortions matching experiments

Final structure varies with density model choice

Abstract

Three-dimensional, time-dependent numerical simulations of the dynamics of magnetic flux ropes are presented. The simulations are targeted towards an experiment previously conducted at CalTech (Bellan, P. M. and J. F. Hansen, Phys. Plasmas, 5, 1991 (1998)) which aimed at simulating Solar prominence eruptions in the laboratory. The plasma dynamics is described by ideal MHD using different models for the evolution of the mass density. Key features of the reported experimental observations like pinching of the current loop, its expansion and distortion into helical shape are reproduced in the numerical simulations. Details of the final structure depend on the choice of a specific model for the mass density.