Partial Torus Instability

Details Partial Torus Instability Partial Torus Instability

May 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21640610o&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #216, #406.10; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.881

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Scientific paper

Flux ropes are now generally accepted to be the magnetic configuration of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), which may be formed prior or during solar eruptions. In this study, we model the flux rope as a current-carrying partial torus loop with its two footpoints anchored in the photosphere, and investigate its instability in the context of the torus instability (TI). Previous studies on TI have focused on the configuration of a circular torus and revealed the existence of a critical decay index. Our study reveals that the critical index is a function of the fractional number of the partial torus, defined by the ratio between the arc length of the partial torus above the photosphere and the circumference of a circular torus of equal radius. We refer to this finding the partial torus instability (PTI). It is found that a partial torus with a smaller fractional number has a smaller critical index, thus requiring a more gradually decreasing magnetic field to stabilize the flux rope. On the other hand, the partial torus with a larger fractional number has a larger critical index. In the limit of a circular torus when the fractional number approaches one, the critical index goes to a maximum value that depends on the distribution of the external magnetic field. We demonstrate that the partial torus instability helps us to understand the confinement, growth, and eventual eruption of a flux rope CME.

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