Recurrent CME-like eruptions in emerging flux regions. I. On the mechanism of eruptions

TL;DR

This paper uses 3D MHD simulations to investigate the mechanisms behind recurrent CME-like eruptions in emerging flux regions, highlighting the roles of magnetic reconnection, flux rope formation, and instabilities.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the eruption process by analyzing the interplay of reconnection and torus instability in a 3D simulation of recurrent solar eruptions.

Findings

Eruptions are initiated by torus instability and tether-cutting reconnection.

Reconnection patterns influence plasma density and temperature in erupting flux ropes.

Simulated eruptions resemble small-scale CMEs in properties and dynamics.

Abstract

We report on three-dimensional (3D) Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of recurrent eruptions in emerging flux regions. We find that reconnection of sheared fieldlines, along the polarity inversion line of an emerging bipolar region, leads to the formation of a new magnetic structure, which adopts the shape of a magnetic flux rope during its rising motion. Initially, the flux rope undergoes a slow-rise phase and, eventually, it experiences a fast-rise phase and ejective eruption towards the outer solar atmosphere. In total, four eruptions occur during the evolution of the system. For the first eruption, our analysis indicates that the torus instability initiates the eruption and that tether-cutting reconnection of the fieldlines, which envelope the flux rope, triggers the rapid acceleration of the eruptive field. For the following eruptions, we conjecture that it is the interplay between tether-cutting reconnection and torus instability, which causes the onset of the various phases. We show the 3D shape of the erupting fields, focusing more on how magnetic fieldlines reconnect during the eruptions. We find that when the envelope fieldlines reconnect mainly with themselves, hot and dense plasma is transferred closer to the core of the erupting flux rope. The same area appears to be cooler and less dense when the envelope fieldlines reconnect with neighboring sheared fieldlines. The plasma density and temperature distribution, together with the rising speeds, the energies and the size of the erupting fields indicate that they may account for small-scale (mini) Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs).