Study of a Prominence Eruption using PROBA2/SWAP and STEREO/EUVI Data

TL;DR

This study analyzes the early rise and propagation of a solar prominence eruption using multi-spacecraft observations, revealing that the prominence accelerates smoothly with height due to large-scale magnetic field relaxation.

Contribution

It introduces a method combining triangulation and mathematical modeling to analyze prominence acceleration, providing insights into the forces driving eruptions.

Findings

Acceleration increases smoothly with height

Prominence is swept away by large-scale magnetic relaxation

No immediate local reconnection acceleration observed

Abstract

Observations of the early rise and propagation phases of solar eruptive prominences can provide clues about the forces acting on them through the behavior of their acceleration with height. We have analyzed such an event, observed on 13 April 2010 by SWAP on PROBA2 and EUVI on STEREO. A feature at the top of the erupting prominence was identified and tracked in images from the three spacecraft. The triangulation technique was used to derive the true direction of propagation of this feature. The reconstructed points were fitted with two mathematical models: i) a power-law polynomial function and ii) a cubic smoothing spline, in order to derive the accelerations. The first model is characterized by five degrees of freedom while the second one is characterized by ten degrees of freedom. The results show that the acceleration increases smoothly and it is continuously increasing with height. We conclude that the prominence is not accelerated immediately by local reconnection but rather is swept away as part of a large-scale relaxation of the coronal magnetic field.