Comparison of Kinematics of Solar Eruptive Prominences and Spatial Distribution of the Magnetic Decay Index

Theoretical studies of electric current instability explaining solar prominence eruptions show that the loss of equilibrium may develop in a case when the surrounding magnetic field decreases sufficiently rapidly with height. The magnetic decay index, a parameter indicating whether the external magn...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2020-01, Vol.889 (1), p.28
Main Authors: Myshyakov, Ivan, Tsvetkov, Tsvetan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astrophysics
Decay
Electric currents
Eruptive phenomena
Instability
Kinematics
Magnetic fields
Prominences
Solar magnetic fields
Solar prominences
Spatial distribution
Stability
Time dependence
Toruses
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Summary:Theoretical studies of electric current instability explaining solar prominence eruptions show that the loss of equilibrium may develop in a case when the surrounding magnetic field decreases sufficiently rapidly with height. The magnetic decay index, a parameter indicating whether the external magnetic field has a configuration that may lead to a certain type of electric current instability, is a useful instrument for predicting the behavior of prominences. In our study, we consider three eruptive prominences. We perform potential-field extrapolation to obtain the spatial distribution of the magnetic decay index in the coronal space identified with the prominences. Analysis of time-dependent height profiles of the prominences revealed that eruptions started at heights close to those, where the computed magnetic decay index exceeded a value equal to 1.5. This indicates that the torus instability is a possible mechanism of the considered eruptive events.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.3847/1538-4357/ab6334