A Model for the Coupled Eruption of a Pseudostreamer and Helmet Streamer

TL;DR

This paper presents a numerical simulation of a novel coupled solar eruption where a pseudostreamer jet triggers a helmet streamer CME, revealing complex magnetic interactions and eruption dynamics in the solar corona.

Contribution

The study introduces a new model demonstrating how a pseudostreamer jet can initiate a streamer-blowout CME through magnetic reconnection and coupling mechanisms.

Findings

Pseudostreamer jets can trigger helmet streamer CMEs.

Eruptions involve complex magnetic reconnection processes.

The resulting CME has a mixed open and closed magnetic field structure.

Abstract

A highly important aspect of solar activity is the coupling between eruptions and the surrounding coronal magnetic-field topology, which determines the trajectory and morphology of the event and can even lead to sympathetic eruptions from multiple sources. In this paper, we report on a numerical simulation of a new type of coupled eruption, in which a coronal jet initiated by a large pseudostreamer filament eruption triggers a streamer-blowout coronal mass ejection (CME) from the neighboring helmet streamer. Our configuration has a large opposite-polarity region positioned between the polar coronal hole and a small equatorial coronal hole, forming a pseudostreamer flanked by the coronal holes and the helmet streamer. Further out, the pseudostreamer stalk takes the shape of an extended arc in the heliosphere. We energize the system by applying photospheric shear along a section of the polarity inversion line within the pseudostreamer. The resulting sheared-arcade filament channel develops a flux rope that eventually erupts as a classic coronal-hole-type jet. However, the enhanced breakout reconnection above the channel as the jet is launched progresses into the neighboring helmet streamer, partially launching the jet along closed helmet streamer field lines and blowing out the streamer top to produce a classic bubble-like CME. This CME is strongly deflected from the jet's initial trajectory and contains a mixture of open and closed magnetic field lines. We present the detailed dynamics of this new type of coupled eruption, its underlying mechanisms and the implications of this work for the interpretation of in-situ and remote-sensing observations.