A solar tornado observed by AIA/SDO: Rotational flow and evolution of magnetic helicity in a prominence and cavity

TL;DR

This paper reports the observation of a solar tornado involving rotational plasma flows and magnetic helicity evolution in a prominence and cavity, revealing complex magnetic and plasma dynamics in the solar atmosphere.

Contribution

It provides detailed observational evidence of a solar tornado with rotational flow and magnetic helicity changes, linking prominence and cavity structures in the solar atmosphere.

Findings

Rotational plasma flows lasted over three hours.

Material moved along helical magnetic structures.

Prominence and cavity are structurally linked.

Abstract

During 2011/09/24, as observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument of the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) and ground-based \Ha\ telescopes, a prominence and associated cavity appeared above the southwest limb. On 2011/09/25 8:00UT material flows upwards from the prominence core along a narrow loop-like structure, accompanied by a rise ($\geq$50,000km) of the prominence core and the loop. As the loop fades by 10:00, small blobs and streaks of varying brightness rotate around the top part of the prominence and cavity, mimicking a cyclone. The most intense and coherent rotation lasts for over three hours, with emission in both hot ($\sim$1MK) and cold (hydrogen and helium) lines. We suggest that the cyclonic appearance and overall evolution of the structure can be interpreted in terms of the expansion of helical structures into the cavity, and the movement of plasma along helical structures which appears as a rotation when viewed along the helix axis. The coordinated movement of material between prominence and cavity suggest that they are structurally linked. Complexity is great due to the combined effect of these actions and the line-of-sight integration through the structure which contains tangled fields.