Interpreting Eruptive Behavior in NOAA AR 11158 via the Region's Magnetic Energy and Relative Helicity Budgets

TL;DR

This study applies a rapid, self-consistent magnetic energy and helicity calculation method to NOAA AR 11158, revealing how magnetic budgets relate to eruptions and supporting the energy-helicity diagram for solar active regions.

Contribution

It introduces a practical method for calculating magnetic energy and helicity budgets from single magnetograms and applies it to interpret AR 11158's eruptive behavior.

Findings

AR 11158 built large magnetic energy and helicity budgets.

Eruption-related decreases in energy and helicity occur before flares and CMEs.

Evolution supports the energy-helicity diagram and suggests reconnection-driven mutual-to-self conversion.

Abstract

In previous works we introduced a nonlinear force-free method that self-consistently calculates the instantaneous budgets of free magnetic energy and relative magnetic helicity in solar active regions (ARs). Calculation is expedient and practical, using only a single vector magnetogram per computation. We apply this method to a timeseries of 600 high-cadence vector magnetograms of the eruptive NOAA AR 11158 acquired by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory over a five-day observing interval. Besides testing our method extensively, we use it to interpret the dynamical evolution in the AR, including eruptions. We find that the AR builds large budgets of both free magnetic energy and relative magnetic helicity, sufficient to power many more eruptions than the ones it gave within the interval of interest. For each of these major eruptions, we find eruption-related decreases and subsequent free-energy and helicity budgets that are consistent with the observed eruption (flare and coronal-mass-ejection [CME]) sizes. In addition, we find that (1) evolution in the AR is consistent with the recently proposed (free) energy - (relative) helicity diagram of solar ARs, (2) eruption-related decreases occur {\it before} the flare and the projected CME-launch times, suggesting that CME progenitors precede flares, and (3) self-terms of free energy and relative helicity most likely originate from respective mutual-terms, following a progressive mutual-to-self conversion pattern that most likely stems from magnetic reconnection. This results in the non-ideal formation of increasingly helical pre-eruption structures and instigates further research on the triggering of solar eruptions with magnetic helicity firmly placed in the eruption cadre.