Plasma Jets and Eruptions in Solar Coronal Holes: a 3D flux emergence experiment

TL;DR

This study uses 3D numerical simulations to analyze the formation and eruption of coronal jets in solar coronal holes, revealing detailed magnetic reconnection processes and eruption mechanisms that resemble observed solar phenomena.

Contribution

It presents a novel 3D flux emergence experiment modeling coronal jets and eruptions, linking magnetic reconnection and instability processes to observed solar events.

Findings

Produced a hot, fast coronal jet with properties matching observations.

Identified multiple eruptions following jet decay, involving kink and torus instabilities.

Suggested the model as a representation of blowout jets and mini-CMEs.

Abstract

A three-dimensional numerical experiment of the launching of a hot and fast coronal jet followed by several violent eruptions is analyzed in detail. These events are initiated through the emergence of a magnetic flux rope from the solar interior into a coronal hole. We explore the evolution of the emerging magnetically-dominated plasma dome surmounted by a current sheet and the ensuing pattern of reconnection. A hot and fast coronal jet with inverted-Y shape is produced that shows properties comparable to those frequently observed with EUV and X-Ray detectors. We analyze its 3D shape, its inhomogeneous internal structure, and its rise and decay phases, lasting for some 15-20 min each. Particular attention is devoted to the field-line connectivities and the reconnection pattern. We also study the cool and high-density volume that appears encircling the emerged dome. The decay of the jet is followed by a violent phase with a total of five eruptions. The first of them seems to follow the general pattern of tether-cutting reconnection in a sheared arcade, although modified by the field topology created by the preceding reconnection evolution. The two following eruptions take place near and above the strong field-concentrations at the surface. They show a twisted, \Omega-loop like rope expanding in height, with twist being turned into writhe, thus hinting at a kink instability (perhaps combined with a torus-instability) as the cause of the eruption. The succession of a main jet ejection and a number of violent eruptions that resemble mini-CME's and their physical properties suggest that this experiment may provide a model for the blowout jets recently proposed in the literature.