Micro-Sigmoids as Progenitors of Coronal Jets - Is Eruptive Activity Self-Similarly Multi-Scaled?

TL;DR

This study suggests that small-scale S-shaped bright regions, or micro-sigmoids, are likely progenitors of coronal jets, potentially indicating a self-similar pattern of eruptive activity across different solar scales.

Contribution

The paper proposes that micro-sigmoids are the small-scale counterparts of large sigmoids, providing a new perspective on the origins of coronal jets and their relation to larger eruptive phenomena.

Findings

Micro-sigmoids are observed to erupt from coronal holes.

These structures may explain jet features like helical shapes and motions.

Eruptive activity might be self-similar across different scales.

Abstract

Observations from the X-ray telescope (XRT) on Hinode are used to study the nature of X-ray bright points, sources of coronal jets. Several jet events in the coronal holes are found to erupt from small-scale, S-shaped bright regions. This finding suggests that coronal micro-sigmoids may well be progenitors of coronal jets. Moreover, the presence of these structures may explain numerous observed characteristics of jets such as helical structures, apparent transverse motions, and shapes. In analogy to large-scale sigmoids giving rise to coronal mass ejections (CMEs), a promising future task would perhaps be to investigate whether solar eruptive activity, from coronal jets to CMEs, is self-similar in terms of properties and instability mechanisms.