Formation of Magnetic Flux Rope during Solar Eruption. I. Evolution of Toroidal Flux and Reconnection Flux

TL;DR

This study uses a 3D MHD simulation to investigate the formation and evolution of magnetic flux ropes during solar eruptions, revealing how reconnection shapes the flux and its observable signatures.

Contribution

It provides a detailed 3D simulation of MFR formation during CME initiation, clarifying the role of flare reconnection and flux evolution, which was previously debated.

Findings

Toroidal flux increases then decreases during eruption.

Reconnection transforms sheared arcade into twisted flux rope.

Simulation reproduces observed flux evolution patterns.

Abstract

Magnetic flux ropes (MFRs) constitute the core structure of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), but hot debates remain on whether the MFR forms before or during solar eruptions. Furthermore, how flare reconnection shapes the erupting MFR is still elusive in three dimensions. Here we studied a new MHD simulation of CME initiation by tether-cutting magnetic reconnection in a single magnetic arcade. The simulation follows the whole life, including the birth and subsequent evolution, of an MFR during eruption. In the early phase, the MFR is partially separated from its ambient field by a magnetic quasi-separatrix layer (QSL) that has a double-J shaped footprint on the bottom surface. With the ongoing of the reconnection, the arms of the two J-shaped footprints continually separate from each other, and the hooks of the J shaped footprints expand and eventually become closed almost at the eruption peak time, and thereafter the MFR is fully separated from the un-reconnected field by the QSL. We further studied the evolution of the toroidal flux in the MFR and compared it with that of the reconnected flux. Our simulation reproduced an evolution pattern of increase-to-decrease of the toroidal flux, which is reported recently in observations of variations in flare ribbons and transient coronal dimming. The increase of toroidal flux is owing to the flare reconnection in the early phase that transforms the sheared arcade to twisted field lines, while its decrease is a result of reconnection between field lines in the interior of the MFR in the later phase.