FORMATION AND ERUPTION OF A FLUX ROPE FROM THE SIGMOID ACTIVE REGION NOAA 11719 AND ASSOCIATED M6.5 FLARE: A MULTI-WAVELENGTH STUDY

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 834; no. 1; pp. 42 - 57
• Main Authors: Joshi, Bhuwan, Kushwaha, Upendra, Veronig, Astrid M., Dhara, Sajal Kumar, Shanmugaraju, A., Moon, Yong-Jae
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia The American Astronomical Society 01.01.2017; IOP Publishing
• Subjects: Ascent; Astrophysics; ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; CHROMOSPHERE; Corona; Coronal loops; ERUPTION; Eruptions; EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION; FILAMENTS; Fluctuations; GAMMA RADIATION; HARD X RADIATION; MAGNETIC FLUX; MAGNETIC RECONNECTION; PHOTOSPHERE; Photospheric magnetic flux; Polarity; SOLAR CORONA; SUN; Sun: activity; Sun: filaments, prominences; Sun: flares; Sun: X-rays, gamma rays; VARIATIONS; WAVELENGTHS
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/834/1/42

ABSTRACT We investigate the formation, activation, and eruption of a flux rope (FR) from the sigmoid active region NOAA 11719 by analyzing E(UV), X-ray, and radio measurements. During the pre-eruption period of ∼7 hr, the AIA 94 images reveal the emergence of a coronal sigmoid through the interaction between two J-shaped bundles of loops, which proceeds with multiple episodes of coronal loop brightenings and significant variations in the magnetic flux through the photosphere. These observations imply that repetitive magnetic reconnections likely play a key role in the formation of the sigmoidal FR in the corona and also contribute toward sustaining the temperature of the FR higher than that of the ambient coronal structures. Notably, the formation of the sigmoid is associated with the fast morphological evolution of an S-shaped filament channel in the chromosphere. The sigmoid activates toward eruption with the ascent of a large FR in the corona, which is preceded by the decrease in photospheric magnetic flux through the core flaring region, suggesting tether-cutting reconnection as a possible triggering mechanism. The FR eruption results in a two-ribbon M6.5 flare with a prolonged rise phase of ∼21 minutes. The flare exhibits significant deviation from the standard flare model in the early rise phase, during which a pair of J-shaped flare ribbons form and apparently exhibit converging motions parallel to the polarity inversion line, which is further confirmed by the motions of hard X-ray footpoint sources. In the later stages, the flare follows the standard flare model and the source region undergoes a complete sigmoid-to-arcade transformation.