The Genesis of an Impulsive Coronal Mass Ejection observed at Ultra-High Cadence by AIA on SDO

TL;DR

This paper provides high-cadence observations of a solar coronal mass ejection, revealing a three-phase formation process, including a brief lateral overexpansion phase, and examines its thermal and dynamic evolution.

Contribution

It presents the first ultra-high cadence measurements of CME bubble aspect ratio evolution and details the distinct phases of CME formation and expansion.

Findings

CME undergoes three phases: slow expansion, rapid lateral overexpansion, then self-similar expansion.

Lateral overexpansion occurs during the CME's deceleration phase, not during flare reconnection.

Multi-thermal analysis shows no significant temperature change during CME formation.

Abstract

The study of fast, eruptive events in the low solar corona is one of the science objectives of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) imagers on the recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which take full disk images in ten wavelengths with arcsecond resolution and 12 sec cadence. We study with AIA the formation of an impulsive coronal mass ejection (CME) which occurred on June 13, 2010 and was associated with an M1.0 class flare. Specifically, we analyze the formation of the CME EUV bubble and its initial dynamics and thermal evolution in the low corona using AIA images in three wavelengths (171, 193 and 211 A). We derive the first ultra-high cadence measurements of the temporal evolution of the CME bubble aspect ratio (=bubble-height/bubble-radius). Our main result is that the CME formation undergoes three phases: it starts with a slow self-similar expansion followed by a fast but short-lived (~ 70 sec) period of strong lateral over-expansion which essentially creates the CME. Then the CME undergoes another phase of self-similar expansion until it exits the AIA field of view. During the studied interval, the CME height-time profile shows a strong, short-lived, acceleration followed by deceleration. The lateral overexpansion phase coincides with the deceleration phase. The impulsive flare heating and CME acceleration are closely coupled. However, the lateral overexpansion of the CME occurs during the declining phase and is therefore not linked to flare reconnection. In addition, the multi-thermal analysis of the bubble does not show significant evidence of temperature change.