Tracking magnetic flux and helicity from Sun to Earth -- Multi-spacecraft analysis of a magnetic cloud and its solar source

TL;DR

This study traces the evolution of magnetic flux and helicity from the Sun to Earth by analyzing a solar eruptive event with multi-spacecraft data, modeling, and remote sensing to understand interplanetary magnetic structures.

Contribution

It combines stereoscopy, NLFF modeling, and in-situ measurements to connect solar eruptions with interplanetary magnetic clouds, providing a comprehensive multi-spacecraft analysis.

Findings

Erupted flux rope propagated self-similarly in interplanetary space.

Magnetic flux and helicity budgets indicate significant contribution from the eruptive process.

Pre-eruptive magnetic structures also play a relevant role.

Abstract

We analyze the complete chain of effects caused by a solar eruptive event in order to better understand the dynamic evolution of magnetic-field related quantities in interplanetary space, in particular that of magnetic flux and helicity. We study a series of connected events (a confined C4.5 flare, a flare-less filament eruption and a double-peak M-class flare) that originated in NOAA active region (AR) 12891 on 2021 November 1 and November 2. We deduce the magnetic structure of AR 12891 using stereoscopy and nonlinear force-free (NLFF) magnetic field modeling, allowing us to identify a coronal flux rope and to estimate its axial flux and helicity. Additionally, we compute reconnection fluxes based on flare ribbon and coronal dimming signatures from remote sensing imagery. Comparison to corresponding quantities of the associated magnetic cloud (MC), deduced from in-situ measurements from Solar Orbiter and near-Earth spacecraft, allows us to draw conclusions on the evolution of the associated interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME). The latter are aided through the application of geometric fitting techniques (graduated cylindrical shell modeling; GCS) and interplanetary propagation models (drag based ensemble modeling; DBEM) to the ICME. NLFF modeling suggests the host AR's magnetic structure in the form of a left-handed (negative-helicity) sheared arcade/flux rope reaching to altitudes of 8-10 Mm above photospheric levels, in close agreement with the corresponding stereoscopic estimate. Revealed from GCS and DBEM modeling, the ejected flux rope propagated in a self-similar expanding manner through interplanetary space. Comparison of magnetic fluxes and helicities processed by magnetic reconnection in the solar source region and the respective budgets of the MC indicate a considerable contribution from the eruptive process, though the pre-eruptive budgets appear of relevance too.