Numerical study of solar eruption, extreme-ultraviolet wave propagation, and wave-induced prominence dynamics

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution numerical simulations to explore how solar eruptions generate EUV waves that interact with distant prominences, causing oscillations and magnetic reconnection, thereby advancing understanding of solar eruptive phenomena.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed simulation of the full impact of remote solar eruptions on prominence dynamics, including wave interactions and reconnection processes.

Findings

Fast EUV wave slightly decelerates in the corona

Slow EUV wave forms a stationary front

EUV waves induce prominence oscillations and trigger reconnection

Abstract

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) waves, frequently produced by eruptions, propagate through the non-uniform magnetic field of the solar corona and interact with distant prominences, inducing their global oscillations. However, the generation, propagation, and interaction of these waves with distant prominences remain poorly understood. We aim to study the influence of an eruptive flux rope (EFR) on a distant prominence by means of extreme-resolution numerical simulations. We cover a domain of a horizontal extent of 1100 Mm, while capturing details down to 130 km using automated grid refinement. We performed a 2.5D numerical experiment using the open-source \texttt{MPI-AMRVAC 3.1} code, modeling an eruption as a 2.5D catastrophe scenario augmented with a distant dipole magnetic field to form a flux rope prominence. Our findings reveal that the EFR becomes unstable and generates a quasi-circular front. The primary front produces a slow secondary front when crossing the equipartition lines where the Alfv\'en speed is close to the sound speed. The resulting fast and slow EUV waves show different behaviors: the fast EUV wave slightly decelerates as it propagates through the corona, while the slow EUV wave forms a stationary front. The fast EUV wave interacts with the remote prominence, driving both transverse and longitudinal oscillations. Additionally, magnetic reconnection at a null point below the prominence-hosting flux rope is triggered by the fast EUV wave, affecting the flux rope magnetic field and the prominence oscillations. Our study unifies important results of the dynamics of eruptive events and their interactions with distant prominences, including details of (oscillatory) reconnection and chaotic plasmoid dynamics. We demonstrate for the first time the full consequences of remote eruptions on prominence dynamics and clarify the damping mechanisms of prominence oscillations.