Browsing by Author "Hu, Qiang"

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Buildup of a highly twisted magnetic flux rope during a solar eruption
(2017-11) Wang, Wensi; Liu, Rui; Wang, Yuming; Hu, Qiang; Shen, Chenglong; Jiang, Chaowei; Zhu, Chunming
The magnetic flux rope is among the most fundamental magnetic configurations in plasma. Although its presence after solar eruptions has been verified by spacecraft measurements near Earth, its formation on the Sun remains elusive, yet is critical to understanding a broad spectrum of phenomena. Here we study the dynamic formation of a magnetic flux rope during a classic two-ribbon flare. Its feet are identified unambiguously with conjugate coronal dimmings completely enclosed by irregular bright rings, which originate and expand outward from the far ends of flare ribbons. The expansion is associated with the rapid ribbon separation during the flare main phase. Counting magnetic flux through the feet and the ribbon-swept area reveals that the rope's core is more twisted than its average of four turns. It propagates to the Earth as a typical magnetic cloud possessing a similar twist profile obtained by the Grad-Shafranov reconstruction of its three dimensional structure.
Buildup of a highly twisted magnetic flux rope during a solar eruption
(2017-11) Wang, Wensi; Liu, Rui; Wang, Yuming; Hu, Qiang; Shen, Chenglong; Jiang, Chaowei; Zhu, Chunming
The magnetic flux rope is among the most fundamental magnetic configurations in plasma. Although its presence after solar eruptions has been verified by spacecraft measurements near Earth, its formation on the Sun remains elusive, yet is critical to understanding a broad spectrum of phenomena. Here we study the dynamic formation of a magnetic flux rope during a classic two-ribbon flare. Its feet are identified unambiguously with conjugate coronal dimmings completely enclosed by irregular bright rings, which originate and expand outward from the far ends of flare ribbons. The expansion is associated with the rapid ribbon separation during the flare main phase. Counting magnetic flux through the feet and the ribbon-swept area reveals that the rope\'s core is more twisted than its average of four turns. It propagates to the Earth as a typical magnetic cloud possessing a similar twist profile obtained by the Grad-Shafranov reconstruction of its three dimensional structure.
Magnetic field line lengths inside interplanetary magnetic flux ropes
(2015-07) Hu, Qiang; Qiu, Jiong; Krucker, Sam
We report on the detailed and systematic study of field line twist and length distributions within magnetic flux ropes embedded in interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs). The Grad-Shafranov reconstruction method is utilized together with a constant-twist nonlinear force-free (Gold-Hoyle) flux rope model to reveal the close relation between the field line twist and length in cylindrical flux ropes, based on in situ Wind spacecraft measurements. We show that the field line twist distributions within interplanetary flux ropes are inconsistent with the Lundquist model. In particular, we utilize the unique measurements of magnetic field line lengths within selected ICME events as provided by Kahler et al. () based on energetic electron burst observations at 1 AU and the associated type III radio emissions detected by the Wind spacecraft. These direct measurements are compared with our model calculations to help assess the flux rope interpretation of the embedded magnetic structures. By using the different flux rope models, we show that the in situ direct measurements of field line lengths are consistent with a flux rope structure with spiral field lines of constant and low twist, largely different from that of the Lundquist model, especially for relatively large-scale flux ropes.