How Does Magnetic Reconnection Drive the Early Stage Evolution of Coronal Mass Ejections?. (arXiv:2003.11134v1 [astro-ph.SR])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Zhu_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">Chunming Zhu</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Qiu_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Jiong Qiu</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Liewer_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">Paulett Liewer</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Vourlidas_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Angelos Vourlidas</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Spiegel_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Michael Spiegel</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Hu_Q/0/1/0/all/0/1">Qiang Hu</a>
Theoretically, CME kinematics are related to magnetic reconnection processes
in the solar corona. However, the current quantitative understanding of this
relationship is based on the analysis of only a handful of events. Here we
report a statistical study of 60 CME-flare events from August 2010 to December
2013. We investigate kinematic properties of CMEs and magnetic reconnection in
the low corona during the early phase of the eruptions, by combining limb
observations from STEREO with simultaneous on-disk views from SDO. For a subset
of 42 events with reconnection rate evaluated by the magnetic fluxes swept by
the flare ribbons on the solar disk observed from SDO, we find a strong
correlation between the peak CME acceleration and the peak reconnection rate.
Also, the maximum velocities of relatively fast CMEs (> 600 km/s) are
positively correlated with the reconnection flux, but no such correlation is
found for slow CMEs. A time-lagged correlation analysis suggests that the
distribution of the time lag of CME acceleration relative to reconnection rate
exhibits three peaks, approximately 10 minutes apart, and on average,
acceleration-lead events have smaller reconnection rates. We further compare
the CME total mechanical energy with the estimated energy in the current sheet.
The comparison suggests that, for small-flare events, reconnection in the
current sheet alone is insufficient to fuel CMEs. Results from this study
suggest that flare reconnection may dominate the acceleration of fast CMEs, but
for events of slow CMEs and weak reconnection, other mechanisms may be more
important.
Theoretically, CME kinematics are related to magnetic reconnection processes
in the solar corona. However, the current quantitative understanding of this
relationship is based on the analysis of only a handful of events. Here we
report a statistical study of 60 CME-flare events from August 2010 to December
2013. We investigate kinematic properties of CMEs and magnetic reconnection in
the low corona during the early phase of the eruptions, by combining limb
observations from STEREO with simultaneous on-disk views from SDO. For a subset
of 42 events with reconnection rate evaluated by the magnetic fluxes swept by
the flare ribbons on the solar disk observed from SDO, we find a strong
correlation between the peak CME acceleration and the peak reconnection rate.
Also, the maximum velocities of relatively fast CMEs (> 600 km/s) are
positively correlated with the reconnection flux, but no such correlation is
found for slow CMEs. A time-lagged correlation analysis suggests that the
distribution of the time lag of CME acceleration relative to reconnection rate
exhibits three peaks, approximately 10 minutes apart, and on average,
acceleration-lead events have smaller reconnection rates. We further compare
the CME total mechanical energy with the estimated energy in the current sheet.
The comparison suggests that, for small-flare events, reconnection in the
current sheet alone is insufficient to fuel CMEs. Results from this study
suggest that flare reconnection may dominate the acceleration of fast CMEs, but
for events of slow CMEs and weak reconnection, other mechanisms may be more
important.
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