Acceleration of Coronal Mass Ejections

Details Acceleration of Coronal Mass Ejections Acceleration of Coronal Mass Ejections

May 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003spd....34.2304c&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, SPD meeting #34, #23.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 35, p.852

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

The acceleration of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) is examined focusing on two specific questions raised by observations: (1) what determines the height beyond which a CME exhibits no rapid acceleration and (2) why is the main acceleration of CMEs typically limited to below 2--3 solar radii. Using a theoretical model of CMEs based on a three-dimensional (3-D) magnetic flux rope, it is shown that acceleration of all flux-rope CMEs exhibits a critical height Z* = Sf/2 above which the acceleration monotonically decreases in magnitude, where Sf is the fixed footpoint separation distance. Thus, scaled to the distance Sf, the acceleration-height curves have a universal scaling law for flux-rope CMEs. Theoretical analysis and observed CME dynamics show two distinct phases of acceleration according to the apex height---the main (Z <= 2 Sf) and residual (Z >= 2 Sf) acceleration phases. This provides a physical explanation of so-called ``impulsive'' and ``gradual'' acceleration. The results also imply that the observed main acceleration phase can be used to infer Sf. The universal scaling is traced to the 3-D geometry of the flux rope underlying a CME, its inductive properties, and the Lorentz self-force. The theory is quantitatively tested against a number of observed CME events. Work supported by ONR and NASA

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