Interplanetary Rotation of 2021 December 4 CME

TL;DR

This study combines multi-spacecraft observations and numerical simulations to investigate the rotation of a 2021 December 4 CME in interplanetary space, revealing how different solar wind speeds and a CIR influence its orientation change.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of CME rotation in interplanetary space using combined observational and simulation data, highlighting the effects of solar wind and CIRs.

Findings

CME undergoes significant rotation during interplanetary propagation.

Different parts of the CME move with varying solar wind speeds, causing rotation.

A nearby CIR influences the CME's orientation and trajectory.

Abstract

The magnetic orientation of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) is of great importance to understand their space weather effects. Although many evidences suggest that CMEs can undergo significant rotation during the early phases of evolution in the solar corona, there are few reports that CMEs rotate in the interplanetary space. In this work, we use multi-spacecraft observations and a numerical simulation starting from the lower corona close to the solar surface to understand the CME event on 2021 December 4, with an emphatic investigation of its rotation. This event is observed as a partial halo CME from the back side of the Sun by coronagraphs, and reaches the BepiColombo spacecraft and the MAVEN/Tianwen-1 as a magnetic flux rope-like structure. The simulation discloses that in the solar corona the CME is approximately a translational motion, while the interplanetary propagation process evidences a gradual change of axis orientation of the CME's flux rope-like structure. It is also found that the downside and the right flank of the CME moves with the fast solar wind, and the upside does in the slow-speed stream. The different parts of the CME with different speeds generate the nonidentical displacements of its magnetic structure, resulting in the rotation of the CME in the interplanetary space. Furthermore, at the right flank of the CME exists a corotating interaction region (CIR), which makes the orientation of the CME alter, and also deviates from its route due to the CME. These results provide new insight on interpreting CMEs' dynamics and structures during their travelling through the heliosphere.