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Planetary bow shocks noncollisionally dissipate the incident bulk flow energy of solar wind into some other forms. To what extent and how solar wind disturbances affect the energy dissipation processes at the bow shocks on different planets remain unclear. With the Chinese Tianwen-1 and American Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN missions, we present the first observation of significant modifications by a solar wind stream interaction region to the Martian foreshock waves, which are an important energy dissipation product of the bow shock. After the stream interface hitting Mars, an unusual band of foreshock waves emerged, with a central frequency of ∼0.4 Hz and frequency width of ∼0.2 Hz. These waves exhibited highly distorted waveforms, with peak-to-peak amplitudes of 10–25 nT in contrast to a background magnetic field of 6–9 nT. They were approximately elliptically polarized with respect to the wavevector and propagated highly obliquely to the background magnetic field. These waves reported here differed greatly from the commonly known Martian foreshock “30 s waves” and “1 Hz waves,” but resembled, to some extent, the less frequently occurring terrestrial foreshock “3 s waves.” Our present findings may imply an unexpected energy dissipation pattern of the Martian bow shock to the disturbed solar wind, which needs further observational, theoretical, and numerical investigations.

A few thin current layers were detected in the rear boundary of an interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) observed at 56 solar radii from the Sun as the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft approached the perihelion for the first time, and were caused by the interaction between the background solar wind and the rear boundary of the ICME. Among two of the current layers, the ion diffusion region of the Hall magnetic reconnection was directly detected, based on opposite ion jets, low-speed inflows, and the Hall effect. Both reconnection events were fast and occurred in the current layer with a small magnetic field shear angle and with significantly asymmetric magnetic field intensity as well as plasma between their two sides, i.e., an asymmetric magnetic reconnection with a strong guide field. A magnetic flux rope was detected inside one of the diffusion regions, indicating bursty reconnection. Additionally, multiple reconnection jets were detected inside the ICME and its rear boundary. Thus, we speculate that more ongoing reconnection events were occurring inside the ICME and its boundary. The observations suggested that fast Hall magnetic reconnection can occur as close as 56 solar radii from the Sun and plays a crucial role in ICME evolution.

The correlation scale and Taylor scale, which characterize the turbulence and dissipation levels, of the solar wind upstream of Mars are determined using the Mars atmosphere and volatile evolution magnetic field data from 2015 to 2020, which covers half of a solar cycle from the solar maximum to the solar minimum. Our analysis suggests that the correlation scale varies between 10 and 20 hr and the Taylor scale between 0.3 and 1 s. Applying the frozen-in flow approximation, we convert the two temporal scales to the two spatial scales, which are about (1.5–3.0) × 107 km and 150–500 km, respectively. We further compare the correlation scale and Taylor scale to the sunspot number (SSN) to study the impacts of solar activity. The highest correlation coefficient between the correlation scale and the SSN is 0.78, where the two data sets are shifted by 16 months with the correlation scale behind the SSN. For the Taylor scale, the highest correlation coefficient is 0.52 with the time lag of 17 months. We also analyze the effective magnetic Reynolds number that is the square of the ratio of the two scales. It is more than 3 × 109, suggesting the good assumption of the frozen-in flow. However, its correlation with the SSN is weak.

Rapid increase of horizontal magnetic field ($B_h$) around the flaring polarity inversion line is the most prominent photospheric field change during flares. It is considered to be caused by the contraction of flare loops, the details behind which is still not fully understood. Here we investigate the $B_h$-increase in 35 major flares using HMI high-cadence vector magnetograms. We find that $B_h$-increase is always accompanied by the increase of field inclination. It usually initiates near the flare ribbons, showing step-like change in between the ribbons. In particular, its evolution in early flare phase shows close spatio-temporal correlation to flare ribbons. We further find that $B_h$-increase tends to have similar intensity in confined and eruptive flares, but larger spatial-extent in eruptive flares in a statistical sense. Its intensity and timescale have inverse and positive correlations to the initial ribbon separations, respectively. The results altogether are well consistent with a recent proposed scenario which suggests that the reconnection-driven contraction of flare loops enhances photospheric $B_h$ according to the ideal induction equation, providing statistical evidence to the reconnection-driven origin for $B_h$-increase for the first time., 14 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJL

The evolution of a magnetic cloud (MC) from the inner heliosphere to the outer heliosphere has been investigated for decades. Although many studies have reported on the evolution of MCs, there is no relevant statistical study about the continuous parametric evolution of the flux rope model of the Gold–Hoyle solution for MCs from near the Sun to 5.4 au. Based on the velocity-modified uniform-twist force-free flux rope model, in this study we explore the evolution with heliodistance for some parameters from 139 MCs observed by the Helios, Wind, and Ulysses spacecraft. We find a negative/positive correlation between the central axial field strength/the radius of the cross section and the heliodistance. The angle between the axis of the MC and the Sun–spacecraft line (Θ), the expansion velocity (v e ), and the poloidal velocity (v p ) did not show any evident tendency to increase or decrease with the heliodistance. In addition, the number of turns of the magnetic field lines per unit length winding around the magnetic flux rope, τ, shows a weak decrease with heliodistance. Also, there is an evident negative correlation between τ and the radius of the flux rope, R. The axial magnetic flux (F z ) and the magnetic helicity (H m ) show a tendency to decrease within 1 au, after which they remain almost unchanged until 5.5 au. Furthermore, we do not find any evident difference in the parametric properties of MCs on and outside the ecliptic.

Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), the highly energetic particles that may raise critical health issues for astronauts in space, are modulated by solar activity, with their intensity lagging behind the variation in sunspot number (SSN) by about one year. Previously, this lag has been attributed to the combined effect of outward convecting solar wind and inward propagating GCRs. However, the lag’s amplitude and its solar-cycle dependence are still not fully understood. By investigating the solar surface magnetic field, we find that the source of heliospheric magnetic field—the open magnetic flux on the Sun—already lags behind SSN before it convects into the heliosphere along with the solar wind. The delay during odd cycles is longer than that during sequential even cycles. Thus, we propose that the GCR lag is primarily due to the very late opening of the solar magnetic field with respect to SSN, though solar wind convection and particle transport in the heliosphere also matter. We further investigate the origin of the open flux from different latitudes of the Sun and find that the total open flux is significantly contributed by that from low latitudes, where coronal mass ejections frequently occur and also show an odd–even cyclic pattern. Our findings challenge existing theories, and may serve as the physical basis of long-term forecasts of radiation dose estimates for manned deep-space exploration missions.

A comet plasma tail is a product of the interaction between the solar wind and the comet’s coma, and has long been studied as a natural probe of the solar wind condition. We previously developed a method to derive the solar wind speed from dual-view observations of comet plasma tails. Here we improve the method to use single-view observations by assuming a radially propagating solar wind and apply it to two comets, C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) and C/2012 S1 (ISON) observed by coronagraphs on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and STEREO. We compare the results to the solar wind simulations and tomography and to the results from our previous dual-view method, and find they are generally consistent, especially when the comets were far away from the Sun or far away from the ecliptic plane and when the observer is high above the comet’s orbital plane. Meanwhile, we notice that this method may suffer from a large error for comets near the ecliptic plane and close to the Sun, where a nonradial component of the solar wind is significant. Using the observations from the first seven orbits of the Parker Solar Probe, we show that the solar wind deviates from a radial direction significantly within around 35 R s. We also notice that, when the nonradial solar wind component is presented, the error may be even larger if the observer is closer to the comet’s orbital plane. This method provides a potentially useful tool to estimate the solar wind speed around comets from only single-view imaging observations.

Two recent extremely fast coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are of particular interest. The first one originated from the southern hemisphere on 2021 October 28 and caused strong solar energetic particle (SEP) events over a wide longitude range from Earth, STEREO-A, to Mars. However, the other one, originating from the center of the Earth-viewed solar disk 5 days later, left weak SEP signatures in the heliosphere. Based on the white-light images of the CMEs from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and the Ahead Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO-A), in combination with the observations of the corresponding solar flares, radio bursts, and in situ magnetic fields and particles, we try to analyze the series of solar eruptions during October 28–November 2 as well as their correspondences with the in situ features. It is found that the difference in SEP features between the two CMEs is mainly due to (1) the seed particles probably supplied by associated flares and (2) the magnetic connection influenced by the preceding solar wind speed.

Eruptions of solar filaments often show rotational motion about their rising direction, but the mechanism governing such rotation, and how the rotation is related to the initial morphology of the preeruptive filament (and cospatial sigmoid), filament chirality, and magnetic helicity, remains elusive. The conventional view of rotation as a result of a magnetic flux rope (MFR) undergoing ideal kink instability still has difficulty explaining these relationships. Here we propose an alternative explanation for the rotation during eruptions by analyzing a magnetohydrodynamic simulation in which magnetic reconnection initiates an eruption from a sheared arcade configuration, and an MFR is formed during eruption via reconnection. The simulation reproduces a reverse-S-shaped MFR with dextral chirality, and the axis of this MFR rotates counterclockwise while rising, which compares favorably with a typical filament eruption observed from dual viewing angles. By calculating the twist and writhe numbers of the modeled MFR during its eruption, we found that, accompanied by the rotation, the nonlocal writhe of the MFR’s axis decreases while the twist of its surrounding field lines increases, and this is distinct from kink instability, which converts magnetic twist into the writhe of the MFR axis.

X-ray emission provides the most direct diagnostics of the energy-release process in solar flares. Occasionally, a superhot X-ray source is found to be above hot flare loops of ~10 MK temperature. While the origin of the superhot plasma is still elusive, it has conjured up an intriguing image of in-situ plasma heating near the reconnection site high above the flare loops, in contrast to the conventional picture of chromospheric evaporation. Here we investigate an extremely long-duration solar flare, in which EUV images show two distinct flare loop systems that appear successively along a Gamma-shaped polarity inversion line (PIL). When both flare loop systems are present, the HXR spectrum is found to be well fitted by combining a hot component (Te ~12 MK) and a superhot component (Te ~30 MK). Associated with a fast CME, the superhot X-ray source is located at top of the flare arcade that appears earlier, straddling and extending along the long "arm" of the Gamma-shaped PIL. Associated with a slow CME, the hot X-ray source is located at the top of the flare arcade that appears later and sits astride the short "arm" of the Gamma-shaped PIL. Aided by observations from a different viewing angle, we are able to verify that the superhot X-ray source is above the hot one in projection, but the two sources belong to different flare loop systems. Thus, this case study provides a stereoscopic observation explaining the co-existence of superhot and hot X-ray emitting plasmas in solar flares., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures

In this work we have, for the first time, applied the interpretation of multiple “ghost-fronts” to two synthetic coronal mass ejections (CMEs) propagating within a structured solar wind using the Heliospheric Upwind eXtrapolation time (HUXt) solar wind model. The two CMEs occurred on 2012 June 13–14 showing multiple fronts in images from Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory Heliospheric Imagers (HIs). The HUXt model is used to simulate the evolution of these CMEs across the inner heliosphere as they interacted with structured ambient solar wind. The simulations reveal that the evolution of CME shape is consistent with observations across a wide range of solar latitudes and that the manifestation of multiple “ghost-fronts” within HIs’ field of view is consistent with the positions of the nose and flank of the same CME structure. This provides further confirmation that the angular separation of these features provides information on the longitudinal extent of a CME. For one of the CMEs considered in this study, both simulations and observations show that a concave shape develops within the outer CME front. We conclude that this distortion results from a latitudinal structure in the ambient solar wind speed. The work emphasizes that the shape of the CME cannot be assumed to remain a coherent geometrical shape during its propagation in the heliosphere. Our analysis demonstrates that the presence of “ghost” CME fronts can be used to infer the distortion of CMEs by ambient solar wind structure as a function of both latitude and longitude. This information has the potential to improve the forecasting of space weather events at Earth.

The measurements from the Venus Express spacecraft are analyzed for the basic properties of fast forward interplanetary shocks at Venus’s orbit (∼0.72 au). A total of 143 fast forward interplanetary shock candidates during 2006–2014 are identified. The shock angle ΘBn, defined as the angle between the shock normal and the upstream magnetic field, and the magnetic compression ratio r B, defined as the ratio of the magnetic field strength downstream to that upstream, of these shocks are determined based on the magnetic coplanarity method. The shock occurrence at Venus shows a correlated variation with the solar activity level measured by the number of sunspots, while the shock angle and magnetic compression ratio do not show such a correspondence. The shock angle spreads almost uniformly between 10° and 80° with its mean value at about 45°, and the magnetic compression ratio shows a unimodal distribution between 1.0 and 4.5 with a mean value of 2.1. In addition, we also analyze the properties of fast forward shocks driven by interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs). We found that interplanetary shocks with and without detected ICMEs showed no significant differences in terms of the shock strength and the shock angle. Further comparison with previous observational results at 1 au shows that fast forward shocks at 1 au are generally weaker than those at 0.72 au, and the shock angle ΘBn is more perpendicular at 1 au.

The Extreme-ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE) onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory detects the solar EUV spectra with high temporal cadence and spectral resolution. The wavelength shifts of emission lines provide key information of the dynamics of the Sun. However, some of EVE spectral observations are influenced by the non-uniformly distributed irradiance on the Sun, which may prevent us from correctly understanding the physical processes happening in the solar corona. Here, based on the only published on-orbit calibration data of EVE He II 30.38 nm line on 2011 January 27, we develop a method to correct the He II 30.38 nm line by using AIA 304 imaging data. This correction method is then applied to EVE He II 30.38 nm data from 2010 October 29 to 2011 March 3 to study the Doppler oscillations of the solar He II 30.38 nm line, in which we show that the half-month periodic Doppler oscillation is caused by non-uniformly distributed irradiance mainly due to the presence of active regions. Other EVE coronal lines also present similar Doppler oscillations, suggesting that an appropriate correction must be implemented before interpreting the oscillation phenomena appearing in these lines.

Recently, we developed the correlation-aided reconstruction (CORAR) method to reconstruct solar wind inhomogeneous structures, or transients, using dual-view white-light images. This method is proved to be useful for studying the morphological and dynamical properties of transients like blobs and coronal mass ejection (CME), but the accuracy of the reconstruction may be affected by the separation angle between the two spacecrafts. Based on the dual-view CME events from the Heliospheric Imager CME Join Catalogue in the Heliospheric Cataloguing, Analysis and Techniques Service (HELCATS) project, we study the quality of the reconstruction of CME using the CORAR method under different STEREO stereoscopic angles. We find that when the separation angle of the spacecraft is around 150°, most CME events can be well reconstructed. If the collinear effect is considered, the optimal separation angle should locate between 120° and 150°. Compared with the direction of the CME given in the Heliospheric Imager Geometrical Catalogue from HELCATS, the parameters of the CME obtained by the CORAR method are reasonable. However, the CORAR-obtained directions deviate toward the meridian plane in longitude, and toward the equatorial plane in latitude. An empirical formula is proposed to correct these deviations. This study provides the basis for the configuration of the spacecraft of our recently proposed Solar Ring mission concept.

Gradual and large solar energetic particle (SEP) events (flux of ions with energy >10 MeV above 10 pfu) are primarily produced in shocks driven by fast and wide coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Past research, both in theory and statistics, has found that the situation where a fast primary CME (priCME) is preceded by previous CMEs (preCMEs) is favorable to a more efficient particle acceleration. However, the physical causes of this association is still a matter of debate, including the association of the acceleration and release of SEPs with the interaction of successive CMEs. Taking advantage of the twin Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory spacecraft, we study 41 large SEP events in solar cycle 24 by multi-viewpoint observations. Although 21 events (∼51%) have a preCME identifiable in the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph, we determine that the priCMEs overlap the preCMEs in three dimension (3D) for only 11 events (∼27%). We further investigate the acceleration (using type II radio bursts) and release (using velocity dispersion analysis) of the particles for all potential instances of CME–CME interaction in 3D. We find that, for six of 11 events, the priCME is far away from catching up with the preCME when the particles are released. However, for the limited samples, the SEP peak intensity is significantly higher in the events in which the priCME is closest to impacting the preCME, indicating the potential for the increased seed population or more enhanced turbulence levels occurring closer to the preCME.

Using in situ measurements and remote-sensing observations, we study two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that left the Sun on 2012 June 13–14 and impacted both Venus and Earth while the planets were in close radial alignment. The two CMEs generate multiple fronts in Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO)/Heliospheric Imager (HI) images, which can also be observed in the “J-map” as bifurcated features. We present the “ghost front” model to combine remote observations from STEREO/SECCHI and in situ observations from the Wind and Venus Express (VEX) spacecraft, and to derive the kinematics and propagation directions of the CMEs. By fitting the observations of multiple fronts to a kinematically evolving flux rope model and assuming the CMEs undergo deceleration through frictional drag with a steady-state solar wind, we confirm that the outer and inner fronts of the CMEs as detected in HI images are consistent with peaks in Thomson scattered light returned from the flank and nose of a single front for each CME. An interaction takes place between CME-1 and CME-2 that can be observed in the HI-1 field of view (FOV) before CME-1 encounters Venus. The multipoint in situ observations of the shock–CME interaction event serve as further evidence of the interaction between CMEs. The arrival times calculated from the ghost front model are within 2.5 hr of those observed at VEX and Wind. Our analysis indicates that ghost fronts could provide information about the longitudinally extended shape of the CME in the FOV of HI-1, which can be used to improve the forecast of interplanetary CME arrival time at Earth.

Large-scale solar eruptions are believed to have a magnetic flux rope as the core structure. However, it remains elusive as to how the flux rope builds up and what triggers its eruption. Recent observations found that a prominence erupted following multiple episodes of "flux feeding". During each episode, a chromospheric fibril rose and merged with the prominence lying above. In this letter, we carried out 2.5-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) numerical simulations to investigate whether the flux-feeding mechanism can explain such an eruption. The simulations demonstrate that the discrete emergence of small flux ropes can initiate eruptions by feeding axial flux into the preexistent flux rope until its total axial flux reaches a critical value. The onset of the eruption is dominated by an ideal MHD process. Our simulation results corroborate that the flux feeding is a viable mechanism to cause the eruption of solar magnetic flux ropes., Comment: This paper has been accepted by ApJL

Solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are closely coupled through magnetic reconnection. CMEs are usually accelerated impulsively within the low solar corona, synchronized with the impulsive flare energy release. We investigate the dynamic evolution of a fast CME and its associated X2.8 flare occurring on 2013 May 13. The CME experiences two distinct phases of enhanced acceleration, an impulsive one with a peak value of ~5 km s$^{-2}$ followed by an extended phase with accelerations up to 0.7 km s$^{-2}$. The two-phase CME dynamics is associated with a two-episode flare energy release. While the first episode is consistent with the "standard" eruption of a magnetic flux rope, the second episode of flare energy release is initiated by the reconnection of a large-scale loop in the aftermath of the eruption and produces stronger nonthermal emission up to $\gamma$-rays. In addition, this long-duration flare reveals clear signs of ongoing magnetic reconnection during the decay phase, evidenced by extended HXR bursts with energies up to 100--300 keV and intermittent downflows of reconnected loops for >4 hours. The observations reveal that the two-step flare reconnection substantially contributes to the two-phase CME acceleration, and the impulsive CME acceleration precedes the most intense flare energy release. The implications of this non-standard flare/CME observation are discussed., Comment: accepted for publication in ApJL

In this paper, we identified the magnetic source locations of 142 quasi- homologous (QH) coronal mass ejections (CMEs), of which 121 are from solar cycle (SC) 23 and 21 from SC 24. Among those CMEs, 63% originated from the same source location as their predecessor (defined as S-type), while 37% origi- nated from a different location within the same active region as their predecessor (defined as D-type). Their distinctly different waiting time distribution, peaking around 7.5 and 1.5 hours for S- and D-type CMEs, suggests that they might involve different physical mechanisms with different characteristic time scales. Through detailed analysis based on non-linear force free (NLFF) coronal mag- netic field modeling of two exemplary cases, we propose that the S-type QH CMES might involve a recurring energy release process from the same source location (by magnetic free energy replenishment), whereas the D-type QH CMEs can happen when a flux tube system disturbed by a nearby CME.

In this work, we investigate the formation of a magnetic flux rope (MFR) above the central polarity inversion line (PIL) of NOAA Active Region 12673 during its early emergence phase. Through analyzing the photospheric vector magnetic field, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and ultraviolet (UV) images, extrapolated three-dimensional (3D) non-linear force-free fields (NLFFFs), as well as the photospheric motions, we find that with the successive emergence of different bipoles in the central region, the conjugate polarities separate, resulting in collision between the non-conjugated opposite polarities. Nearly-potential loops appear above the PIL at first, then get sheared and merge at the collision locations as evidenced by the appearance of a continuous EUV sigmoid on 2017 September 4, which also indicates the formation of an MFR. The 3D NLFFFs further reveal the gradual buildup of the MFR, accompanied by the appearance of two elongated bald patches (BPs) at the collision locations and a very low-lying hyperbolic flux tube configuration between the BPs. The final MFR has relatively steady axial flux and average twist number of around $2.1\times 10^{20}$~Mx and -1.5, respective. Shearing motions are found developing near the BPs when the collision occurs, with flux cancellation and UV brightenings being observed simultaneously, indicating the development of a process named as "collisional shearing" (firstly identified by Chintzoglou et al. 2019). The results clearly show that the MFR is formed by "collisional shearing", i.e., through shearing and flux cancellation driven by the collision between non-conjugated opposite polarities during their emergence., 38 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

Space radiation is a major risk for humans, especially on long-duration missions to outer space, e.g., a manned mission to Mars. Galactic cosmic rays contribute a predictable radiation background; the main risk is due to the highly variable and currently unpredictable flux of solar energetic particles (SEPs). Such sporadic SEP events may induce acute health effects and are thus considered a critical mission risk for future human exploration of Mars. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to study, model, and predict the surface radiation environment during such events. It is well known that the deep-space SEP differential energy spectrum at high energies is often given by a power law. We use a measurement-validated particle transport code to show that, for large SEP events with proton energy extending above ∼500 MeV with a power-law distribution, it is sufficient to measure the SEP flux at a pivot energy of ∼300 MeV above the Martian atmosphere to predict the dose rate on the Martian surface. In conjunction with a validation by in situ measurements from the Martian surface, this remarkable simplification and elegant quantification could enable instant predictions of the radiation environment on the surface of Mars upon the onset of large SEP events.

Plasma motions within flaring regions provide key information for us to understand the flare processes. Here, we study two X-class flares near the solar disk center, one on 2014 January 7 and the other on 2012 March 7, by using 10 extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emission lines from the Solar Dynamics Observatory/EUV Variability Experiment (EVE). The EVE plasma dynamic spectrum chart, a 2D map of Doppler shift against temperature and time, is constructed based on a spectroscopic analysis of the EUV lines. Three kinds of plasma motion are identified in the plasma dynamic spectrum charts: chromospheric evaporation (100–200 km s−1) above 1 MK, cooling inside post-flare loops (approximately 150 km s−1) between 0.3 and 1 MK, and condensation at footpoints (

Large-scale propagating fronts are frequently observed during solar eruptions, yet it is open whether they are waves or not, partly because the propagation is modulated by coronal structures, whose magnetic field we still cannot measure. However, when a front impacts coronal structures, an opportunity arises for us to look into the magnetic properties of both interacting parties in the low-$\beta$ corona. Here we studied large-scale EUV fronts accompanying three coronal mass ejections (CMEs), each originating from a kinking rope-like structure in the NOAA active region (AR) 12371. These eruptions were homologous and the surrounding coronal structures remained stationary. Hence we treated the events as one observed from three different viewing angles, and found that the primary front directly associated with the CME consistently transmits through 1) a polar coronal hole, 2) the ends of a crescent-shaped equatorial coronal hole, leaving a stationary front outlining its AR-facing boundary, and 3) two quiescent filaments, producing slow and diffuse secondary fronts. The primary front also propagates along an arcade of coronal loops and slows down due to foreshortening at the far side, where local plasma heating is indicated by an enhancement in 211 {\AA} (Fe XIV) but a dimming in 193 {\AA} (Fe XII) and 171 {\AA} (Fe IX). The strength of coronal magnetic field is therefore estimated to be $\sim\,$2 G in the polar coronal hole and $\sim\,$4 G in the coronal arcade neighboring the active region. These observations substantiate the wave nature of the primary front and shed new light on slow fronts., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

Magnetic flux ropes (MFRs) are believed to be the core structure in solar eruptions, nevertheless, their formation remains intensely debated. Here we report a rapid buildup process of an MFR-system during a confined X2.2 class flare occurred on 2017 September 6 in NOAA AR 12673, three hours after which the structure erupted to a major coronal mass ejection (CME) accompanied by an X9.3 class flare. For the X2.2 flare, we do not find EUV dimmings, separation of its flare ribbons, or clear CME signatures, suggesting a confined flare. For the X9.3 flare, large-scale dimmings, separation of its flare ribbons, and a CME show it to be eruptive. By performing a time sequence of nonlinear force-free fields (NLFFFs) extrapolations we find that: until the eruptive flare, an MFR-system was located in the AR. During the confined flare, the axial flux and the lower bound of the magnetic helicity for the MFR-system were dramatically enhanced by about 86% and 260%, respectively, although the mean twist number was almost unchanged. During the eruptive flare, the three parameters were all significantly reduced. The results evidence the buildup and release of the MFR-system during the confined and the eruptive flare, respectively. The former may be achieved by flare reconnection. We also calculate the pre-flare distributions of the decay index above the main polarity inversion line (PIL) and find no significant difference. It indicates that the buildup of the magnetic flux and helicity of the MFR-system may play a role in facilitating its final eruption.

We have developed a computational software system to automate the process of identifying solar active regions (ARs) and quantifying their physical properties based on high-resolution synoptic magnetograms constructed from Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI; on board the SOHO spacecraft) images from 1996 to 2008. The system, based on morphological analysis and intensity thresholding, has four functional modules: (1) intensity segmentation to obtain kernel pixels, (2) a morphological opening operation to erase small kernels, which effectively remove ephemeral regions and magnetic fragments in decayed ARs, (3) region growing to extend kernels to full AR size, and (4) the morphological closing operation to merge/group regions with a small spatial gap. We calculate the basic physical parameters of the 1730 ARs identified by the auto system. The mean and maximum magnetic flux of individual ARs are 1.67 ×10 22 Mx and 1.97 ×10 23 Mx, while that per Carrington rotation are 1.83 ×10 23 Mx and 6.96 ×10 23 Mx, respectively. The frequency distributions of ARs with respect to both area size and magnetic flux follow a log-normal function. However, when we decrease the detection thresholds and thus increase the number of detected ARs, the frequency distribution largely follows a power-law function. We also find that the equatorward drifting motion of the AR bands with solar cycle can be described by a linear function superposed with intermittent reverse driftings. The average drifting speed over one solar cycle is 1. 83 ± 0. ◦ 04 yr −1 or 0.708 ± 0.015 m s −1 .

Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are arguably the most violent eruptions in the Solar System. CMEs can cause severe disturbances in the interplanetary space and even affect human activities in many respects, causing damages to infrastructure and losses of revenue. Fast and accurate prediction of CME arrival time is then vital to minimize the disruption CMEs may cause when interacting with geospace. In this paper, we propose a new approach for partial-/full-halo CME Arrival Time Prediction Using Machine learning Algorithms (CAT-PUMA). Via detailed analysis of the CME features and solar wind parameters, we build a prediction engine taking advantage of 182 previously observed geo-effective partial-/full-halo CMEs and using algorithms of the Support Vector Machine (SVM). We demonstrate that CAT-PUMA is accurate and fast. In particular, predictions after applying CAT-PUMA to a test set, that is unknown to the engine, show a mean absolute prediction error $\sim$5.9 hours of the CME arrival time, with 54% of the predictions having absolute errors less than 5.9 hours. Comparison with other models reveals that CAT-PUMA has a more accurate prediction for 77% of the events investigated; and can be carried out very fast, i.e. within minutes after providing the necessary input parameters of a CME. A practical guide containing the CAT-PUMA engine and the source code of two examples are available in the Appendix, allowing the community to perform their own applications for prediction using CAT-PUMA., 13 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables; accepted by the Astrophysical Journal

We examine the two kinds of major energetic phenomena that occur in the solar atmosphere: eruptive and confined events. The former describes flares with associated coronal mass ejections (CMEs), while the latter denotes flares without associated CMEs. We find that about 90% of X-class flares are eruptive, but the remaining 10% are confined. To probe why the largest energy releases could be either eruptive or confined, we investigate four X-class events from each of the two types. Both sets of events are selected to have very similar intensities (X1.0 to X3.6) and duration (rise time under 13 minutes and decay time not over 9 minutes) in soft X-ray observations, to reduce any bias due to flare size on CME occurrence. We find that the occurrence of eruption (or confinement) is sensitive to the displacement of the location of the energy release, defined as the distance between the flare site and the flux-weighted magnetic center of the source active region. The displacement is 6 - 17 Mm for confined events but as large as 22 - 37 Mm for eruptive events. This means that confined events occur closer to the magnetic center, while the eruptive events tend to occur close to the edge of active regions. We use the potential field source-surface model to infer the coronal magnetic field above the source active regions and calculate the flux ratio of low (1.1 Rs) corona. We find that the confined events have a lower ratio (7.1). These results imply that a stronger overlying arcade field may prevent energy releases in the low corona from being eruptive, resulting in flares, but without CMEs.

As a kind of eruptive phenomenon associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs), solar eruptive filaments are thought to be parallel to the axis of surrounding arcade coronal magnetic fields that erupt and develop into interplanetary magnetic clouds (MCs). By investigating three events from 2000 August, 2003 October, and 2003 November, we estimate the axial orientations of the MCs and make a quantitative comparison with the filament orientations. By defining ‘‘tilt angle’’ as the angle between projected orientation on the plane of the sky and the ecliptic, wefind that the

We have analyzed five major CMEs originating from NOAA active region (AR) 808 during the period of 2005 September 7–13, when the AR 808 rotated from the east limb to near solar meridian. Several factors that affect the probability of the CMEs’ encounter with the Earth are demonstrated. The solar and interplanetary observations suggest that the second and third CMEs, originating from E67 � and E47 � , respectively, encountered the Earth, while the first CME originating from E77 � missed the Earth, and the last two CMEs, although originating from E39 � and E10 � , respectively, probably only grazed the Earth. On the basis of our ice cream cone mode and CME deflection model, we find that the CME span angle and deflection are important for the probability of encountering Earth. The large span angles allowed the middle two CMEs to hit the Earth, even though their source locations were not close to thesolar centralmeridian.ThesignificantdeflectionmadethefirstCMEtotallymisstheEartheventhoughitalsohad wide span angle. The deflection may also have made the last CME nearly miss the Earth even though it originated close to the disk center. We suggest that, in order to effectively predict whether a CME will encounter the Earth, the factors of the CME source location, the span angle, and the interplanetary deflection should all be taken into account.

Gradual solar energetic particle (SEP) events are thought to be produced by shocks, which are usually driven by fast coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The strength and magnetic field configuration of the shock are considered the two most important factors for shock acceleration. Theoretically, both of these factors should be unfavorable for producing SEPs in or near coronal holes (CHs). Meanwhile, CMEs and CHs could impact each other. Thus, to answer the question whether CHs have real effects on the intensities of SEP events produced by CMEs, a statistical study is performed. First, a brightness gradient method is developed to determine CH boundaries. Using this method, CHs can be well identified, eliminating any personal bias. Then 56 front-side fast halo CMEs originating from the western hemisphere during 1997-2003 are investigated as well as their associated large CHs. It is found that neither CH proximity nor CH relative location manifests any evident effect on the proton peak fluxes of SEP events. The analysis reveals that almost all of the statistical results are significant at no more than one standard deviation, σ. Our results are consistent with the previous conclusion suggested by Kahler that SEP events can be produced in fast solar wind regions and there is no requirement for those associated CMEs to be significantly faster.

In this paper, we present the detailed analysis of recurrent homologous jets originating from an emerging negative magnetic flux at the edge of an Active Region. The observed jets show multi-thermal features. Their evolution shows high consistence with the characteristic parameters of the emerging flux, suggesting that with more free magnetic energy, the eruptions tend to be more violent, frequent and blowout-like. The average temperature, average electron number density and axial speed are found to be similar for different jets, indicating that they should have been formed by plasmas from similar origins. Statistical analysis of the jets and their footpoint region conditions reveals a strong positive relationship between the footpoint-region total 131 {\AA} intensity enhancement and jets' length/width. Stronger linearly positive relationships also exist between the total intensity enhancement/thermal energy of the footpoint regions and jets' mass/kinetic/thermal energy, with higher cross-correlation coefficients. All the above results, together, confirm the direct relationship between the magnetic reconnection and the jets, and validate the important role of magnetic reconnection in transporting large amount of free magnetic energy into jets. It is also suggested that there should be more free energy released during the magnetic reconnection of blowout than of standard jet events., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, 1 table

Solar active regions (ARs) are the major sources of two kinds of the most violent solar eruptions, namely flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The largest AR in the past 24 years, NOAA AR 12192, crossed the visible disk from 2014 October 17 to 30, unusually produced more than one hundred flares, including 32 M-class and 6 X-class ones, but only one small CME. Flares and CMEs are believed to be two phenomena in the same eruptive process. Why is such a flare-rich AR so CME-poor? We compared this AR with other four ARs; two were productive in both and two were inert. The investigation of the photospheric parameters based on the SDO/HMI vector magnetogram reveals that the flare-rich AR 12192, as the other two productive ARs, has larger magnetic flux, current and free magnetic energy than the two inert ARs, but contrast to the two productive ARs, it has no strong, concentrated current helicity along both sides of the flaring neutral line, indicating the absence of a mature magnetic structure consisting of highly sheared or twisted field lines. Furthermore, the decay index above the AR 12192 is relatively low, showing strong constraint. These results suggest that productive ARs are always large and have enough current and free energy to power flares, but whether or not a flare is accompanied by a CME is seemingly related to (1) if there is mature sheared or twisted core field serving as the seed of the CME, (2) if the constraint of the overlying arcades is weak enough.

2.5-dimensional time-dependent ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models in Cartesian coordinates were used in previous studies to seek MHD equilibria involving a magnetic flux rope embedded in a bipolar, partially open background field. As demonstrated by these studies, the equilibrium solutions of the system are separated into two branches: the flux rope sticks to the photosphere for solutions at the lower branch but is suspended in the corona for those at the upper branch. Moreover, a solution originally at the lower branch jumps to the upper, as the related control parameter increases and reaches a critical value, and the associated jump is here referred to as an upward catastrophe. The present paper advances these studies in three aspects. First, the magnetic field is changed to be force-free; the system still experiences an upward catastrophe with an increase in each control parameter. Second, under the force-free approximation, there also exists a downward catastrophe, characterized by the jump of a solution from the upper branch to the lower. Both catastrophes are irreversible processes connecting the two branches of equilibrium solutions so as to form a cycle. Finally, the magnetic energy in the numerical domain is calculated. It is found that there exists a magnetic energy release for both catastrophes. The Ampere's force, which vanishes everywhere for force-free fields, appears only during the catastrophes and does positive work, which serves as a major mechanism for the energy release. The implications of the downward catastrophe and its relevance to solar activities are briefly discussed.

The 2011 January 28 M1.4 flare exhibits two side-by-side candle-flame-shaped flare loop systems underneath a larger cusp-shaped structure during the decay phase, as observed at the northwestern solar limb by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The northern loop system brightens following the initiation of the flare within the southern loop system, but all three cusp-shaped structures are characterized by ~ 10 MK temperatures, hotter than the arch-shaped loops underneath. The "Ahead" satellite of the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) provides a top view, in which the post-flare loops brighten sequentially, with one end fixed while the other apparently slipping eastward. By performing stereoscopic reconstruction of the post-flare loops in EUV and mapping out magnetic connectivities, we found that the footpoints of the post-flare loops are slipping along the footprint of a hyperbolic flux tube (HFT) separating the two loop systems, and that the reconstructed loops share similarity with the magnetic field lines that are traced starting from the same HFT footprint, where the field lines are relatively flexible. These results argue strongly in favor of slipping magnetic reconnection at the HFT. The slipping reconnection was likely triggered by the flare and manifested as propagative dimmings before the loop slippage is observed. It may contribute to the late-phase peak in Fe XVI 33.5 nm, which is even higher than its main-phase counterpart, and may also play a role in the density and temperature asymmetry observed in the northern loop system through heat conduction., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

We investigate the evolution of NOAA Active Region 11817 during 2013 August 10--12, when it developed a complex field configuration and produced four confined, followed by two eruptive, flares. These C-and-above flares are all associated with a magnetic flux rope (MFR) located along the major polarity inversion line, where shearing and converging photospheric flows are present. Aided by the nonlinear force-free field modeling, we identify the MFR through mapping magnetic connectivities and computing the twist number $\mathcal{T}_w$ for each individual field line. The MFR is moderately twisted ($|\mathcal{T}_w| < 2$) and has a well-defined boundary of high squashing factor $Q$. We found that the field line with the extremum $|\mathcal{T}_w|$ is a reliable proxy of the rope axis, and that the MFR's peak $|\mathcal{T}_w|$ temporarily increases within half an hour before each flare while it decreases after the flare peak for both confined and eruptive flares. This pre-flare increase in $|\mathcal{T}_w|$ has little effect on the active region's free magnetic energy or any other parameters derived for the whole region, due to its moderate amount and the MFR's relatively small volume, while its decrease after flares is clearly associated with the stepwise decrease in free magnetic energy due to the flare. We suggest that $\mathcal{T}_w$ may serve as a useful parameter in forewarning the onset of eruption, and therefore, the consequent space weather effects. The helical kink instability is identified as the prime candidate onset mechanism for the considered flares., submitted to ApJ

We present the multi-point and multi-wavelength observation and analysis on a solar coronal jet and coronal mass ejection (CME) event in this paper. Employing the GCS model, we obtained the real (three-dimensional) heliocentric distance and direction of the CME and found it propagate in a high speed over 1000 km/s . The jet erupted before and shared the same source region with the CME. The temporal and spacial relation- ship between them guide us the possibility that the jet triggered the CME and became its core. This scenario could promisingly enrich our understanding on the triggering mechanism of coronal mass ejections and their relations with coronal large-scale jets. On the other hand, the magnetic field configuration of the source region observed by the SDO/HMI instrument and the off- limb inverse Y-shaped configuration observed by SDO/AIA 171 A passband, together provide the first detailed observation on the three-dimensional reconnection process of large-scale jets as simulated in Pariat et al. 2009. The erupting process of the jet highlights that filament-like materials are important during the eruption not only of small-scale X-ray jets (Sterling et al. 2015) but also probably of large-scale EUV jets. Based on our observation and analysis, we propose a most possible mechanism for the whole event with a blob structure overlaying the three-dimensional structure of the jet to describe the interaction between the jet and the CME., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures