Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability and Alfvénic Vortex Shedding in Solar Eruptions

We report on a three-dimensional MHD numerical experiment of a small-scale coronal mass ejection (CME)-like eruption propagating though a nonmagnetized solar atmosphere. We find that the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) develops at various but specific locations at the boundary layer between the e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Astrophysical journal. Letters 2019-10, Vol.884 (1), p.L4
Main Authors: Syntelis, P., Antolin, P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atmosphere
Atmospheric models
Boundary layer stability
Boundary layers
Computational fluid dynamics
Coronal mass ejection
Eruptions
Kelvin-Helmholtz instability
Magnetic fields
Magnetohydrodynamical simulations
Magnetohydrodynamics
Numerical experiments
Particle acceleration
Solar active regions
Solar activity
Solar atmosphere
Solar atmospheric motions
Solar corona
Solar coronal mass ejections
Solar magnetic fields
Solar magnetic flux emergence
Storms
Three dimensional models
Turbulence
Turbulent flow
Vortex shedding
Vortices
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Summary:We report on a three-dimensional MHD numerical experiment of a small-scale coronal mass ejection (CME)-like eruption propagating though a nonmagnetized solar atmosphere. We find that the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) develops at various but specific locations at the boundary layer between the erupting field and the background atmosphere, depending on the relative angle between the velocity and magnetic field. KHI develops at the front and at two of the four sides of the eruption. KHI is suppressed at the other two sides of the eruption. We also find the development of Alfvénic vortex shedding flows at the wake of the developing CME due to the 3D geometry of the field. Forward modeling reveals that the observational detectability of the KHI in solar eruptions is confined to a narrow 10° range when observing off-limb, and therefore its occurrence could be underestimated due to projection effects. The new findings can have significant implications for observations, for heating, and for particle acceleration by turbulence from flow-driven instabilities associated with solar eruptions of all scales.
ISSN:2041-8205
2041-8213
DOI:10.3847/2041-8213/ab44ab