Multi-wavelength Observation of a Failed Eruption from a Helical Kink-unstable Prominence

TL;DR

This study analyzes a solar prominence eruption that exhibited kink instability and magnetic reconnection, but ultimately failed to escape, providing insights into the physical mechanisms and forces involved in solar eruptions.

Contribution

It presents multi-wavelength observations of a failed prominence eruption, highlighting the role of kink instability and magnetic tension in eruption dynamics.

Findings

Twist exceeded the kink instability threshold (~6π).

Eruption involved magnetic reconnection at cusp structures.

Eruption was halted by inward magnetic tension force.

Abstract

Multi-wavelength observations of prominence eruptions provide an opportunity to uncover the physical mechanism of the triggering and the evolution process of the eruption. In this paper, we investigated an erupting prominence on October 14, 2012, recorded in H{\alpha}, EUV, and X-ray wavelengths. The process of the eruption gives evidences on the existence of a helical magnetic structure and showing the twist being converting to writhe. The estimated twist is ~6{\pi} (3 turns), exceeding the threshold of the kink instability. The rising plasma then reached a high speed, estimated at 228 km s-1, followed by a sudden rapid acceleration at 2715 m s-2, and synchronous with a solar are. Co-spatial cusp shaped structures were observed in both AIA 131{\AA} and 94{\AA} images, signifying the location of the magnetic reconnection. The erupted flux rope finally undergone a deceleration with a maximum value of 391 m s-2, which is even larger than the free-fall acceleration on the Sun (273 m s-2) , suggesting that the eruption finally failed, possibly due to an inward magnetic tension force.