EIT Crinkles as Evidence for the Breakout Model of Solar Eruptions

Physics

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7513 Coronal Mass Ejections, 7519 Flares, 7554 X Rays, Gamma Rays, And Neutrinos

Scientific paper

Ejective solar eruptions generally involve: (i) a strong magnetic field ``core'' region, which envelops a magnetic inversion line and is the site of the earliest post-flare loop footpoints, and (ii) weaker magnetic fields surrounding the core. Determining whether the eruption begins in the core or in the surrounding fields is vital to understanding the eruption process. Here we discuss observational tests of two different models with opposing views on where the eruption begins. The ``tether-cutting model'' suggests that magnetic reconnection among fields in the core is the primary cause of the eruption; in this case, we expect the earliest signature of the start of the eruption to be brightenings inside the core. In contrast, the ``breakout model'' (Antiochos et al.~1999, ApJ, 510, 485) suggests that the eruption begins when overlying coronal fields are eroded away by low-energy reconnection far from the core; in this case, we would expect initial brightenings at sites remote from the core. To test these ideas, we examine relative timings of brightenings inside and outside the core region of a series of homologous flares in NOAA AR~8210 over 1998 May 1-2. As we previously reported (Sterling and Moore 2001, JGR, in press), these events displayed a crinkle-like pattern of emission in EIT 195 images (``EIT crinkles'') near the time of the eruptions, at locations remote from the core. We examine the onset of these remote brightenings relative to the core brightenings, observing the core using EIT data and high-cadence ( ~ 10~s), high resolution (2.5'' pixels) data from the Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) on Yohkoh. We find that the EIT crinkles precede the core brightenings by several minutes, which is consistent with the breakout model, but inconsistent with the tether-cutting model. ACS is an NRC---MSFC Research Associate.

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