Kink instability of triangular jets in the solar atmosphere

TL;DR

This paper investigates the kink instability of triangular jets in the solar atmosphere, analyzing how magnetic fields influence jet stability and connecting theoretical results with observed spicule lifetimes.

Contribution

It provides an analytical and numerical study of kink instability in magnetic triangular jets, linking instability conditions to solar spicule observations.

Findings

Jets are unstable to kink perturbations depending on Alfven Mach number and density ratios.

Denser jets can be unstable in sub Alfvenic regimes.

Growth times match observed spicule lifetimes, indicating instability may cause jet disappearance.

Abstract

It is known that hydrodynamic triangular jets are unstable to antisymmetric kink perturbations. The inclusion of magnetic field may lead to the stabilisation of the jets. Jets and complex magnetic fields are ubiquitous in the solar atmosphere, which suggests the possibility of the kink instability in certain cases. The aim of the paper is to study the kink instability of triangular jets sandwiched between magnetic tubes/slabs and its possible connection to observed properties of the jets in the solar atmosphere. A dispersion equation governing the kink perturbations is obtained through matching of analytical solutions at the jet boundaries. The equation is solved analytically and numerically for different parameters of jets and surrounding plasma. The analytical solution is accompanied by a numerical simulation of fully nonlinear MHD equations for a particular situation of solar type II spicules. MHD triangular jets are unstable to the dynamic kink instability depending on the Alfven Mach number (the ratio of flow to Alfven speeds) and the ratio of internal and external densities. When the jet has the same density as the surrounding plasma, then only super Alfvenic flows are unstable. However, denser jets are unstable also in sub Alfvenic regime. Jets with an angle to the ambient magnetic field have much lower thresholds of instability than field-aligned flows. Growth times of the kink instability are estimated as 6-15 min for type I spicules and 5-60 s for type II spicules matching with their observed life times. Numerical simulation of full nonlinear equations shows that the transverse kink pulse locally destroys the jet in less than a minute in the conditions of type II spicules. Dynamic kink instability may lead to full breakdown of MHD flows and consequently to observed disappearance of spicules in the solar atmosphere.