Simulation of the Observed Coronal Kink Instability and Its Implications for the SDO/AIA

TL;DR

This paper uses 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations to model a highly twisted coronal loop's kink instability and predicts observable signatures for SDO/AIA, enhancing understanding of solar coronal dynamics.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed simulation of a coronal kink instability with synthetic SDO/AIA observables based on actual observed initial conditions.

Findings

Simulation reproduces the kink instability evolution.

Synthetic observables match key features of SDO/AIA images.

Provides insights into observable signatures of coronal kink instability.

Abstract

Srivastava et al. (2010) have observed a highly twisted coronal loop, which was anchored in AR10960 during the period 04:43 UT-04:52 UT on 4 June 2007. The loop length and radius are approximately 80 Mm and 4 Mm, with a twist of 11.5 $\pi$. These observations are used as initial conditions in a three dimensional nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic simulation with parallel thermal conduction included. The initial unstable equilibrium evolves into the kink instability, from which synthetic observables are generated for various high-temperature filters of SDO/AIA. These observables include temporal and spatial averaging to account for the resolution and exposure times of SDO/AIA images. Using the simulation results, we describe the implications of coronal kink instability as observables in SDO/AIA filters.