Coronal Mass Ejection and Heliospheric Current Sheet Interaction Causing a Long-Duration Magnetic Field Sector Transition

TL;DR

This study combines remote-sensing and in-situ data to analyze how coronal mass ejections interact with the heliospheric current sheet, causing long-duration magnetic sector transitions during solar cycle 25.

Contribution

It links long-lived active regions and deep magnetic structures to complex CME-HCS interactions and models their propagation from the Sun to Earth.

Findings

Detected a CME-HCS complex propagating with a shock in October 2024.

Observed a sector reversal lasting over 48 hours due to CME-HCS interaction.

Connected solar surface structures to global magnetic field evolution.

Abstract

We present a study that combines remote-sensing and in-situ observations of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) interacting with the nearby heliospheric current sheet (HCS). The sequence of eruptive events under study culminates in the largest directly observed flare of solar cycle 25 on 3 October 2024, producing a fast halo CME. Their source region can be linked to a so-called nested active region (or active longitude) that persisted over several solar rotations. Such long-lived regions reflect deep-seated magnetic structures that shape the global magnetic field configuration. By applying the drag-based CME propagation model, we connect the near-Sun observations from several CMEs during that activity period with in-situ measurements. While one of the CMEs propagated on the opposite side of the HCS from Earth, and therefore did not produce in-situ signatures near Earth, we detect, over the period October 5-10, 2024, a complex of HCS and CME structures propagating together with a shock ahead of them. The HCS seems to be locally replaced by the CME signatures, leading to a long-duration sector reversal of more than 48 hours. This event highlights the intrinsic connection between solar surface structures, the global magnetic field, and the evolution of complex eruptive events.