Evidence of the Relationship between the Emerging Magnetic Fields, Electric Currents, and Solar Flares Observed on May 10, 2012

TL;DR

This study analyzes multi-wavelength solar observations from May 10, 2012, revealing complex magnetic field and current behaviors associated with flare activity, flux rope formation, and eruptions, enhancing understanding of flare mechanisms.

Contribution

It provides detailed analysis of magnetic field and current dynamics during a solar flare, highlighting the role of flux rope emergence and shear motions in flare development.

Findings

Sign inversion in magnetic signals linked to new magnetic field emergence.

Correlation between current system behavior and flare occurrence observed.

Flux rope formation associated with shear motions and torus instability.

Abstract

We have analyzed multi-wavelength observations and magnetic-field data for the solar flare of May 10, 2012 (04:18 UT) and have detected a sign inversion of the signal in the line-of-sight magnetic measurements in the umbra of a small spot. This effect is associated, at least partly, with the emergence of a new magnetic field. Almost at the same time, a burst of hard X-rays was recorded, and a wave in the vacuum ultraviolet (EUV) range (a "sunquake") was generated due to the impact of the disturbance in the energy release range on the photosphere. At the beginning of the event, a sigmoid flare was recorded, but it did not spread, as it usually does, along the polarity inversion (neutral) line. SDO/HMI full-vector measurements were used to extrapolate the AR 11476 magnetic field to the corona, and the distribution of vertical currents $j_z$ in the photosphere was obtained. The distribution of currents in the active region shows that the relationship between them and the occurrence of flares is very intricate. We have corroborated that the expected "ideal" behavior of the current system before and after the flare (e.g., see (Sharykin and Kosovichev, 2015)) is observed only in the sigmoid region. The results obtained were compared with the observations of two other flares recorded in this AR on the same day, one of which was similar to the flare under discussion and the other was of different type. Our results confirm that the formation and eruption of large-scale magnetic flux ropes in sigmoid flares are associated with the shear motions in the photosphere and the emergence of twisted magnetic tubes, as well as with the subsequent development of the torus instability.