Multi-instrument observations of a failed flare eruption associated with MHD waves in a loop bundle

TL;DR

This study combines multi-instrument solar observations to analyze a confined flare eruption, revealing how MHD wave behavior is influenced by evolving plasma conditions, and uses seismology to estimate local plasma parameters.

Contribution

It demonstrates the impact of plasma parameter variations on MHD wave evolution during a confined flare, utilizing combined imaging, spectroscopy, and coronal seismology.

Findings

MHD wave evolution is affected by plasma heating and cooling.

Coronal seismology estimates plasma density, temperature, and magnetic field.

Confined flare triggers observable transverse oscillations and periodic intensity variations.

Abstract

We present observations of a B7.9-class flare that occurred on the 24th January, 2015, using the Atmopsheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), the EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) and the X-Ray Telescope of Hinode. The flare triggers the eruption of a dense cool plasma blob as seen in AIA 171\AA,\, which is unable to completely break out and remains confined within a local bundle of active region loops. During this process, transverse oscillations of the threads are observed. The cool plasma is then observed to descend back to the chromosphere along each loop strand. At the same time, a larger diffuse co-spatial loop observed in the hot wavebands of SDO/AIA and Hinode/XRT is formed, exhibiting periodic intensity variations along its length. The formation and evolution of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves depend upon the values of the local plasma parameters (e.g. density, temperature and magnetic field), which can hence be inferred by coronal seismology. In this study we aim to assess how the observed MHD modes are affected by the variation of density and temperature. We combined analysis of EUV/X-ray imaging and spectroscopy using SDO/AIA, Hinode/EIS and XRT. We show that the evolution of the detected waves is determined by the temporal variations of the local plasma parameters, caused by the flare heating and the consequent cooling. We apply coronal seismology to both waves obtaining estimations of the background plasma parameters.