We propose an in-situ formation model for inverse-polarity solar prominence and demonstrate it using self-consistent 2.5-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics simulations, including thermal conduction along magnetic fields and optically thin radiative cooling. The model enables us to form cool dense plasma clouds inside a flux rope by radiative condensation, which is regarded as an inverse-polarity prominence. Radiative condensation is triggered by changes in the magnetic topology, i.e., formation of the flux rope from the sheared arcade field, and by thermal imbalance due to the dense plasma trapped inside the flux rope. The flux rope is created by imposing converging and shearing motion on the arcade field. Either when the footpoint motion is in the anti-shearing direction or when heating is proportional to local density, the thermal state inside the flux rope becomes cooling-dominant, leading to radiative condensation. By controlling the temperature of condensation, we investigate the relationship between the temperature and density of prominence and derive a scaling formula for this relationship. This formula suggests that the proposed model reproduce the observed density of prominence, which is 10-100 times larger than the coronal density. Moreover, the time evolution of the extreme ultraviolet emission synthesized by combining our simulation results with the response function of the Solar Dynamics Observatory Atmospheric Imaging Assembly filters agrees with the observed temporal and spatial intensity shift among multi-wavelength during in-situ condensation.
Triggering process for prominence instability and consequent CMEs is not fully understood. Prominences are maintained by the Lorentz force against the gravity, therefore reduction of the prominence mass due to the coronal rain may cause the change of the force balance and hence destabilisation of the structures. We aim to study the observational evidence of the influence of coronal rain on the stability of prominence and subsequent eruption of CMEs. We used the simultaneous observations from AIA/SDO and SECCHI/STEREO spacecrafts from different angles to follow the dynamics of prominence/filame…
Flare associated coronal shock waves sometimes interact with solar prominences leading to large amplitude prominence oscillations. Such prominence activation gives us unique opportunity to track time evolution of shock-cloud interaction in cosmic plasmas. Although the dynamics of interstellar shock-cloud interaction is extensively studied, coronal shock-solar prominence interaction is rarely studied in the context of shock-cloud interaction. Associated with X5.4 class solar flare occurred on 7 March, 2012, a globally propagated coronal shock wave interacted with a polar prominence leading to l…
The triggering process for coronal mass ejections (CME) in the solar atmosphere is not fully understood. We use observations from different spacecraft at several wavelengths to detect an instability process for a prominence/filament with a subsequent eruption of CME. Time series of spectral lines at 304, 171, 193, and 211 Å have been obtained with the SDO spacecraft, and at 304, 171, 195, and 284 Å with the STEREO spacecraft. A prominence/filament system was observed during November 8-23, 2011, at different angles by SDO, STEREO_A, and STEREO_B. The observations show that a giant tornado began…
Starting from a realistically sheared magnetic arcade connecting chromospheric, transition region to coronal plasma, we simulate the in-situ formation and sustained growth of a quiescent prominence in the solar corona. Contrary to previous works, our model captures all phases of the prominence formation, including the loss of thermal equilibrium, its successive growth in height and width to macroscopic dimensions, and the gradual bending of the arched loops into dipped loops, as a result of the mass accumulation. Our 2.5-dimensional, fully thermodynamically and magnetohydrodynamically consiste…
We investigate triggering, activation, and ejection of a solar eruptive prominence that occurred in a multi-polar flux system of active region NOAA 11548 on 2012 August 18 by analyzing data from AIA on board SDO, RHESSI, and EUVI/SECCHI on board STEREO. Prior to the prominence activation, we observed striking coronal activities in the form of a blowout jet which is associated with rapid eruption of a cool flux rope. Further, the jet-associated flux rope eruption underwent splitting and rotation during its outward expansion. These coronal activities are followed by the prominence activation dur…
We investigate the heating of an erupting prominence and loops associated with a coronal mass ejection and X-class flare. The prominence is seen in absorption in EUV at the beginning of its eruption. Later the prominence changes to emission, which indicates heating of the erupting plasma. We find the densities of the erupting prominence using the absorption properties of hydrogen and helium in different passbands. We estimate the temperatures and densities of the erupting prominence and loops seen as emission features using the differential emission measure method, which uses both EUV and X-ra…
From a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of the eruption of a prominence hosting coronal flux rope, we carry out forward synthesis of the circular polarization signal (Stokes V signal) of the FeXIII emission line at 1074.7 nm produced by the MHD model as measured by the proposed COronal Solar Magnetism Observatory (COSMO) Large Coronagraph (LC) and infer the line-of-sight magnetic field BLOS above the limb. With an aperture of 150 cm, integration time of 12 min, and a resolution of 12 arcsec, the LC can measure a significant BLOS with sufficient signal to noise level, from the simulated flu…
Using the multi-temperature observations from SDO/AIA on 30th December 2019, we provide a signature of prominence driven forced magnetic reconnection in the corona and associated plasma dynamics during 09:20 UT to 10:38 UT. A hot prominence segment erupts with a speed of 21 km/s and destabilises the entire prominence system. Thereafter, it rose upward in the north during 09:28 UT to 09:48 UT with a speed of 24 km/s. The eruptive prominence stretches overlying field lines upward with the speed of 27-28 km/s , which further undergo into the forced reconnection. The coronal plasma also flows in s…
The dense prominence material is believed to be supported against gravity through the magnetic tension of dipped coronal magnetic field. For quiescent prominences, which exhibit many gravity-driven flows, hydrodynamic forces are likely to play an important role in the determination of both the large and small scale magnetic field distributions. In this study, we present the first steps toward creating three-dimensional magneto-hydrostatic prominence model where the prominence is formed in the dips of a coronal flux tube. Here 2.5D equilibria are created by adding mass to an initially force-fre…
Solar mini-dimmings can be detect in the Extreme Ultra-Violet coro- nal eruptions. Here, sequences of 171 A images taken by Solar Dynamic Observa- tory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembaly on 13 June 2010 are used. In this special day, both of coronal mass ejection and prominence were observed. The average velocities and accelerations of 500 mini-dimmings which were detected using on feature based classifier (Alipour et al 2012) are studied. The large number of mini-dimmings shows positive accelerations in the beginning times as similar as Coronal Mass Ejections. On the the start time of prominence e…
The Coronal Multi-channel Polarimeter (CoMP) obtains daily full-Sun above-the-limb coronal observations in linear polarization, allowing for the first time a diagnostic of the coronal magnetic field direction in quiescent prominence cavities. We find that these cavities consistently possess a characteristic "lagomorphic" signature in linear polarization indicating twist or shear extending up into the cavity above the neutral line. We demonstrate that such a signature may be explained by a magnetic flux-rope model, a topology with implications for solar eruptions. We find corroborating evidence…
The physical connection among and formation mechanisms of various components of the prominence-horn cavity system remain elusive. Here we present observations of such a system, focusing on a section of the prominence that rises and separates gradually from the main body. This forms a configuration sufficiently simple to yield clues to the above issues. It is characterized by embedding horns, oscillations, and a gradual disappearance of the separated material. The prominence-horn structure exhibits a large amplitude longitudinal oscillation with a period of ~150 minutes and an amplitude of ~30 …
The structure of a star's coronal magnetic field is a fundamental property that governs the high-energy emission from the hot coronal gas and the loss of mass and angular momentum in the stellar wind. It is, however, extremely difficult to measure. We report a new method to trace this structure in rapidly-rotating young convective stars, using the cool gas trapped on coronal field lines as markers. This gas forms "slingshot prominences" which appear as transient absorption features in H-$α$. By using different methods of extrapolating this field from the surface measurements, we determine loca…
We present a detailed three-dimensional (3D) view of a prominence eruption, coronal loop expansion, and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) associated with an M4.4 flare that occurred on 2011 March 8 in the active region NOAA 11165. Full-disk H$α$ images of the flare and filament ejection were successfully obtained by the Flare Monitoring Telescope (FMT) following its relocation to Ica University, Peru. Multiwavelength observation around the H$α$ line enabled us to derive the 3D velocity field of the H$α$ prominence eruption. Features in extreme ultraviolet were also obtained by the Atmospheric Imag…
Solar prominences are long-lived cool and dense plasma curtains in the hot and rarefied outer solar atmosphere or corona. The physical mechanism responsible for their formation and especially for their internal plasma circulation has been uncertain for decades. The observed ubiquitous down flows in quiescent prominences are difficult to interpret as plasma with high conductivity seems to move across horizontal magnetic field lines. Here we present three-dimensional numerical simulations of prominence formation and evolution in an elongated magnetic flux rope as a result of in-situ plasma conde…
A solar filament is a dense cool condensation that is supported and thermally insulated by magnetic fields in the rarefied hot corona. Its evolution and stability, leading to either an eruption or disappearance, depend on its coupling with the surrounding hot corona through a thin transition region, where the temperature steeply rises. However, the heating and dynamics of this transition region remain elusive. We report extreme-ultraviolet observations of quiescent filaments from the Solar Dynamics Observatory that reveal prominence spicules propagating through the transition region of the fil…
Spectroscopic He I 1083 nm prominence eruption observations in the middle corona with MLSO/UCoMP
Taylor University(泰勒大学);Southwest Research Institute(西南研究所);High Altitude Observatory, NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research(高山观测站,美国国家科学基金会国家大气研究中心)
利用MLSO/UCoMP在He I 1083 nm观测中探测日珥喷射,提供动态行为信息以改进空间天气预报。
We investigate the evolutions of two prominences (P1,P2) and two bundles of coronal loops (L1,L2), observed with SDO/AIA near the east solar limb on 2012 September 22. It is found that there were large-amplitude oscillations in P1 and L1, but no detectable motions in P2 and L2. These transverse oscillations were triggered by a large-scale coronal wave, originating from a large flare in a remote active region behind the solar limb. By carefully comparing the locations and heights of these oscillating and non-oscillating structures, we conclude that the propagating height of the wave is between …
We present numerical simulations in 2.5D settings where large scale prominences form in situ out of coronal condensation in magnetic dips, in close agreement with early as well as recent reporting of `funnel prominences'. Our simulation uses full thermodynamic MHD with anisotropic thermal conduction, optically thin radiative losses, and parametrized heating as main ingredients to establish a realistic arcade configuration from chromosphere to corona. The chromospheric evaporation from especially transition region heights ultimately causes thermal instability and we witness the growth of a prom…
The knots in solar prominences are often observed to fall with nearly constant velocity, but the associated physical mechanism is currently not well understood. In this letter, we presented a prominence observed by New Vacuum Solar Telescope (NVST) in H-alpha wavelength. Knots that rose within the prominence appear to have been preferentially located at higher altitude, whereas those that fell were found throughout the entire prominence structure. The descending speed of the knots near the solar surface was higher than that far away from the solar surface. We noted that the knots near the sola…
High-resolution observations from the $Interface~Region~Imaging~Spectrometer$ ($IRIS$) reveal the existence of a particular type of small solar jets, which arose singly or in clusters from a tornado-like prominence suspended in the corona. In this study, we perform a detailed statistical analysis of 43 selected mini-jets in the tornado event. Our results show that the mini-jets typically have: (1) a projected length of 1.0-6.0 Mm, (2) a width of 0.2-1.0 Mm, (3) a lifetime of 10-50 s, (4) a velocity of 100-350 km s$^{-1}$, and (5) an acceleration of 3-20 km s$^{-2}$. Based on spectral diagnosti…
Using three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, we investigate the eruption of coronal flux ropes underlying coronal streamers and the development of a prominence eruption. We initialize a quasi-steady solution of a coronal helmet streamer, into which we impose at the lower boundary the slow emergence of a part of a twisted magnetic torus. As a result a quasi-equilibrium flux rope is built up under the streamer. With varying sizes of the streamer and the different length and total twist of the emerged flux rope, we found different scenarios for the evolution from quasi-equilibri…
The coronal magnetic field is the primary driver of solar dynamic events. Linear and circular polarization signals of certain infrared coronal emission lines contain information about the magnetic field, and to access this information, either a forward or an inversion method must be used. We study three coronal magnetic configurations that are applicable to polar-crown filament cavities by doing forward calculations to produce synthetic polarization data. We analyze these forward data to determine the distinguishing characteristics of each model. We conclude that it is possible to distinguish …
Prominences in the solar corona are hundredfold cooler and denser than their surroundings, with a total mass of 1.e13 up to 1.e15 g. Here we report on the first comprehensive simulations of three-dimensional, thermally and gravitationally stratified magnetic flux ropes, where in situ condensation to a prominence happens due to radiative losses. After a gradual thermodynamic adjustment, we witness a phase where runaway cooling happens while counter-streaming shearing flows drain off mass along helical field lines. After this drainage, a prominence-like condensation resides in concave upward fie…
We study the triggering mechanism of a limb-prominence eruption and the associated coronal mass ejection near AR 12342 using SDO and LASCO/SOHO observations. The prominence is seen with an embedded flux thread (FT) at one end and bifurcates from the middle to a different footpoint location. The morphological evolution of the FT is similar to an unstable flux rope (FR), which we regard as prominence embedded FR. The FR twist exceeds the critical value. In addition, the morphology of the prominence plasma in 304Å~images marks the helical nature of the magnetic skeleton with a total of 2.96 turns…
Continuous observations were performed of a quiescent prominence with the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) on board the /emph{Hinode} satellite on 2006 December 23--24. A peculiar slowly-rising column of $/sim10^{4}$ K plasma develops from the lower atmosphere during the observations. The apparent ascent speed of the column is 2 km s$^{-1}$, while the fine structures of the column exhibit much faster motion of up to 20 km s$^{-1}$. The column eventually becomes a faint low-lying prominence. Associated with the appearance of the column, an overlying coronal cavity seen in the X-ray and EUV moves u…
Solar prominences are magnetic structures incarcerating cool and dense gas in an otherwise hot solar corona. Prominences can be categorized as quiescent and active. Their origin and the presence of cool gas (~$10^4$K) within the hot (~$10^6$K) solar corona remains poorly understood. The structure and dynamics of solar prominences was investigated in a large number of observational and theoretical (both analytical and numerical) studies. In this paper, an analytic model of quiescent solar prominence is developed and used to demonstrate that the prominence velocity increases exponentially, which…
We carry out magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the quasi-static evolution and eruption of a twisted coronal flux rope under a coronal streamer built up by an imposed flux emergence at the lower boundary. The MHD model incorporates a simple empirical coronal heating, optically thin radiative cooling, and field aligned thermal conduction, and thus allows the formation of prominence condensations. We find that during the quasi-static evolution, prominence/filament condensations of an elongated, sigmoid morphology form in the dips of the significantly twisted field lines of the emerged flux…
Observations of active regions and limb prominences often show cold, dense blobs descending with an acceleration smaller than that of free fall. The dynamics of these condensations falling in the solar corona is investigated in this paper using a simple fully ionised plasma model. We find that the presence of a heavy condensation gives rise to a dynamical rearrangement of the coronal pressure that results in the formation of a large pressure gradient that opposes gravity. Eventually this pressure gradient becomes so large that the blob acceleration vanishes or even points upwards. Then, the bl…
Coronal rain clumps and prominence knots are dense condensations with chromospheric to transition region temperatures that fall down in the much hotter corona. Their typical speeds are in the range 30--150~km~s$^{-1}$ and of the order of 10--30~km~s$^{-1}$, respectively, i.e., they are considerably smaller than free fall velocities. These cold blobs contain a mixture of ionized and neutral material that must be dynamically coupled in order to fall together, as observed. We investigate this coupling by means of hydrodynamic simulations in which the coupling arises from the friction between ions…
Magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the emergence of twisted magnetic flux tubes from the solar interior into the corona are discussed to illustrate how twisted and sheared coronal magnetic structures (with free magnetic energy), capable of driving filament eruptions, can form in the corona in emerging active regions. Several basic mechanisms that can disrupt the quasi-equilibrium coronal structures and trigger the release of the stored free magnetic energy are discussed. These include both ideal processes such as the onset of the helical kink instability and the torus instability of a t…
We present magnetohydrodynamic simulation of the evolution from quasi-equilibrium to onset of eruption of a twisted, prominence-forming coronal magnetic flux rope underlying a corona streamer. The flux rope is built up by an imposed flux emergence at the lower boundary. During the quasi-static phase of the evolution, we find the formation of a prominence-cavity system with qualitative features resembling observations, as shown by the synthetic SDO/AIA EUV images with the flux rope observed above the limb viewed nearly along its axis. The cavity contains substructures including ``U''-shaped or …
Observations revealed rich dynamics within prominences, the cool 10,000 K, macroscopic (sizes of order 100 Mm) "clouds" in the million degree solar corona. Even quiescent prominences are continuously perturbed by hot, rising bubbles. Since prominence matter is hundredfold denser than coronal plasma, this bubbling is related to Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities. Here we report on true macroscopic simulations well into this bubbling phase, adopting a magnetohydrodynamic description from chromospheric layers up to 30 Mm height. Our virtual prominences rapidly establish fully non-linear (magneto)conve…
We present the results of the first attempt of statistical research devoted to the association between X-ray Plasma Ejections (XPEs) and prominences. For this aim, we compared contents of a catalogue of XPEs, observed by the Soft X-ray Telescope onboard Yohkoh, to H$α$ reports from the Solar-Geophysical Data. We found that only less than one third of XPEs shows a low-temperature counterpart. A modest connection between hot and cool plasma motions in the corona is also supported by by a frequent discrepancy between morphology and kinematics of simultaneously occurring XPEs and prominences. We e…
Prominences, or filaments, are a striking phenomenon in the solar atmosphere. Besides their own rich features and dynamics, they are related to many other activities, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). In the past several years we have been investigating the prominence formation, oscillations, and eruptions through both data analysis and radiative hydrodynamic and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. This paper reviews our progress on these topics, which includes: (1) With updated radiative cooling function, the coronal condensation becomes a little faster than previous …
We present multi-wavelength observations of a prominence eruption originating from a quadrupolar field configuration, in which the prominence was embedded in a side-arcade. Within the two-day period prior to its eruption on 2012 October 22, the prominence was perturbed three times by chromospheric fibrils underneath, which rose upward, became brightened, and merged into the prominence, resulting in horizontal flows along the prominence axis, suggesting that the fluxes carried by the fibrils were incorporated into the magnetic field of the prominence. These perturbations caused the prominence t…
We report the first analyses of SDO/AIA observations of the formation of a quiescent polar crown prominence in a coronal cavity. The He II 304 Å (log T_{max} ~ 4.8 K) data show both the gradual disappearance of the prominence due to vertical drainage and lateral transport of plasma followed by the formation of a new prominence some 12 hours later. The formation of the prominence is preceded by the appearance of a bright emission "cloud" in the central region of the coronal cavity. The peak brightness of the cloud progressively shifts in time from the Fe XIV 211 Å channel, through the Fe XII 19…
We propose a reconnection-condensation model in which topological change in a coronal magnetic field via reconnection triggers radiative condensation, thereby resulting in prominence formation. Previous observational studies have suggested that reconnection at a polarity inversion line of a coronal arcade field creates a flux rope that can sustain a prominence; however, they did not explain the origin of cool dense plasmas of prominences. Using three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations including anisotropic nonlinear thermal conduction and optically thin radiative cooling, we demonstra…
Observations of rapidly-rotating cool stars often show coronal slingshot prominences that remove mass and angular momentum when they are ejected. The derived masses of these prominences show a scatter of some two orders of magnitude. In order to investigate if this scatter could be intrinsic, we use a full magnetic cycle of solar magnetograms to model the coronal structure and prominence distribution in a young Sun, where we scale the field strength in the magnetograms with angular velocity according to $ B \propto Ω^{-1.32} $. We reproduce both the observed prominence masses and their scatter…
We present magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the evolution from quasi-equilibrium to eruption of a prominence-forming twisted coronal flux rope under a coronal streamer. We have compared the cases with and without the formation of prominence condensations, and the case where prominence condensations form but we artificially initiate the draining of the prominence. We find that the prominence weight has a significant effect on the stability of the flux rope, and can significantly increase the loss-of-equilibrium height. The flux rope can be made to erupt earlier by initiating draining of…
The first ionization potential (FIP) bias is currently used to trace the propagation of solar features ejected by the wind and solar eruptions (coronal mass ejections). The FIP bias also helps us to understand the formation of prominences, as it is a tracer for the solar origin of prominence plasma. This work aims to provide elemental composition and FIP bias in quiescent solar prominences. This is key information to link these features to remnants of solar eruptions measured in-situ within the heliosphere and to constrain the coronal or photospheric origin of prominence plasma. We used the di…
Total solar eclipse (TSE) coronal large and small scale events were reported in the historical literature but a definite synoptic coverage was missing for studying a relationship with the more general magnetic context of the solar-disk. We here analyze temporal changes in the solar corona before, during, and after the total solar eclipse on 21 August 2017 from a set of ground-based and of space-borne observations. High-quality ground-based white-light (W-L) observations and a deep image processing allow us to reveal these changes for the first time with a fraction of a one-minute time resoluti…
Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are associated with the eruption of magnetic flux ropes (MFRs), which usually appear as hot channels in active regions and coronal cavities in quiet-Sun regions. CMEs often exhibit the classical three-part structure in the lower corona when imaged with white-light coronagraphs, including the bright front, dark cavity, and bright core. The bright core and dark cavity have been regarded as the erupted prominence and MFR, respectively, for several decades. However, recent studies clearly demonstrated that both the prominence and hot-channel MFR can be observed as the…
We intend to provide a comprehensive answer to the question on whether all Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) have flux rope structure. To achieve this, we present a synthesis of the LASCO CME observations over the last sixteen years, assisted by 3D MHD simulations of the breakout model, EUV and coronagraphic observations from STEREO and SDO, and statistics from a revised LASCO CME database. We argue that the bright loop often seen as the CME leading edge is the result of pileup at the boundary of the erupting flux rope irrespective of whether a cavity or, more generally, a 3-part CME can be identi…
A number of solar filaments/prominences demonstrate failed eruptions, when a filament at first suddenly starts to ascend and then decelerates and stops at some greater height in the corona. The mechanism of the termination of eruptions is not clear yet. One of the confining forces able to stop the eruption is the gravity force. Using a simple model of a partial current-carrying torus loop anchored to the photosphere and photospheric magnetic field measurements as the boundary condition for the potential magnetic field extrapolation into the corona, we estimated masses of 15 eruptive filaments.…
Homologous flares are flares that occur repetitively in the same active region, with similar structure and morphology. A series of at least eight homologous flares occurred in active region NOAA 11237 over 16 - 17 June 2011. A nearby prominence/filament was rooted in the active region, and situated near the bottom of a coronal cavity. The active region was on the southeast solar limb as seen from SDO/AIA, and on the disk as viewed from STEREO/EUVI-B. The dual perspective allows us to study in detail behavior of the prominence/filament material entrained in the magnetic field of the repeatedly-…