Data-driven MHD simulation of a sunspot rotating active region leading to solar eruption

TL;DR

This study uses a data-driven MHD simulation to investigate how sunspot rotation causes magnetic shear and reconnection, leading to solar eruptions, providing insights into space weather prediction.

Contribution

It presents the first data-driven MHD simulation of a rotating sunspot event leading to eruption, highlighting magnetic reconnection as the key mechanism.

Findings

Simulation reproduces observed eruption timing and magnetic structure.

Sunspot rotation shears magnetic fields, forming a current sheet.

Fast reconnection triggers eruption with twisted flux rope formation.

Abstract

Solar eruptions are the leading driver of space weather, and it is vital for space weather forecast to understand in what conditions the solar eruptions can be produced and how they are initiated. The rotation of sunspots around their umbral center has long been considered as an important condition in causing solar eruptions. To unveil the underlying mechanisms, here we carried out a data-driven magnetohydrodynamics simulation for the event of a large sunspot with rotation for days in solar active region NOAA 12158 leading to a major eruption. The photospheric velocity as recovered from the time sequence of vector magnetograms are inputted directly at the bottom boundary of the numerical model as the driving flow. Our simulation successfully follows the long-term quasi-static evolution of the active region until the fast eruption, with magnetic field structure consistent with the observed coronal emission and onset time of simulated eruption matches rather well with the observations. Analysis of the process suggests that through the successive rotation of the sunspot the coronal magnetic field is sheared with a vertical current sheet created progressively, and once fast reconnection sets in at the current sheet, the eruption is instantly triggered, with a highly twisted flux rope originating from the eruption. This data-driven simulation stresses magnetic reconnection as the key mechanism in sunspot rotation leading to eruption.