A Magnetogram-matching Method for Energizing Magnetic Flux Ropes Toward Eruption

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel magnetogram-matching helicity-pumping method to energize magnetic flux ropes in the solar corona, facilitating eruption modeling without altering the boundary magnetic field, and highlights the roles of breakout and flare reconnections in eruptions.

Contribution

The paper presents a new helicity-pumping technique that energizes coronal magnetic flux ropes toward eruption without changing the boundary magnetic field, enhancing eruption modeling accuracy.

Findings

Eruption is driven by two reconnection processes: breakout and flare reconnection.

The method successfully models eruptive events consistent with observed configurations.

Reconnection processes work with magnetic forces to propel flux ropes through ambient fields.

Abstract

We propose a new ``helicity-pumping'' method for energizing coronal equilibria that contain a magnetic flux rope (MFR) toward an eruption. We achieve this in a sequence of magnetohydrodynamics relaxations of small line-tied pulses of magnetic helicity, each of which is simulated by a suitable rescaling of the current-carrying part of the field. The whole procedure is ``magnetogram-matching'' because it involves no changes to the normal component of the field at the photospheric boundary. The method is illustrated by applying it to an observed force-free configuration whose MFR is modeled with our regularized Biot--Savart law method. We find that, in spite of the bipolar character of the external field, the MFR eruption is sustained by two reconnection processes. The first, which we refer to as breakthrough reconnection, is analogous to breakout reconnection in quadrupolar configurations. It occurs at a quasi-separator inside a current layer that wraps around the erupting MFR and is caused by the photospheric line-tying effect. The second process is the classical flare reconnection, which develops at the second quasi-separator inside a vertical current layer that is formed below the erupting MFR. Both reconnection processes work in tandem with the magnetic forces of the unstable MFR to propel it through the overlying ambient field, and their interplay may also be relevant for the thermal processes occurring in the plasma of solar flares. The considered example suggests that our method will be beneficial for both the modeling of observed eruptive events and theoretical studies of eruptions in idealized magnetic configurations.