A Data-constrained Magnetohydrodynamic Simulation of Successive X-class Flares in Solar Active Region 13842. II. Dynamics of the Solar Eruption Associated with the X9.0 Solar Flare

TL;DR

This paper presents a data-constrained MHD simulation of the X9.0 solar flare in active region NOAA 13842, revealing the eruption dynamics, magnetic reconnection processes, and observational features consistent with the event.

Contribution

It extends previous work by simulating the X9.0 flare using NLFFF initial conditions, highlighting the role of pre-eruption reconnection and torus instability in solar eruptions.

Findings

Simulation reproduces tether-cutting reconnection and flare ribbons.

Magnetic flux ropes and transverse field enhancements are observed.

Results align with observational features of the X9.0 flare.

Abstract

Active region NOAA 13842 produced two successive solar flares: an X7.1-class flare on October 1, 2024, and an X9.0-class flare on October 3, 2024. This study continues our previous simulation work that successfully reproduced the X7.1-class solar flare (Matsumoto et al. 2025). In this study, we performed a data-constrained magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation using the nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) as the initial condition to investigate the X9.0-class solar flare. The NLFFF showed the sheared field lines, resulting in the tether-cutting reconnection, the magnetic flux ropes (MFRs), and eventually led to eruption. The magnetic reconnection during the pre-eruption phase plays a critical role in accelerating the subsequent eruption, which is driven by torus instability and magnetic reconnection. Furthermore, our simulation results are consistent with several observational features associated with the X9.0 flare. This simulation could reproduce diverse phenomena associated with the X9.0 flare, including the tether-cutting reconnection, the flare ribbons and the flare loops, the transverse field enhancement, and the remote brightening away from the flare ribbons. However, the initial trigger, magnetic flux emergence, was inferred from observations rather than explicitly modeled, and future comprehensive simulations should incorporate this mechanism directly.