How Many Twists Do Solar Coronal Jets Release?

Highly twisted magnetic flux ropes, with finite length, are subject to kink instabilities, and could lead to a number of eruptive phenomena in the solar atmosphere, including flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and coronal jets. The kink instability threshold, which is the maximum twist a kink-sta...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jiajia Liu, Yuming Wang, Robert Erdélyi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2019-06-01
Series:Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fspas.2019.00044/full
_version_ 1818178253372784640
author Jiajia Liu
Yuming Wang
Yuming Wang
Robert Erdélyi
Robert Erdélyi
author_facet Jiajia Liu
Yuming Wang
Yuming Wang
Robert Erdélyi
Robert Erdélyi
author_sort Jiajia Liu
collection DOAJ
description Highly twisted magnetic flux ropes, with finite length, are subject to kink instabilities, and could lead to a number of eruptive phenomena in the solar atmosphere, including flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and coronal jets. The kink instability threshold, which is the maximum twist a kink-stable magnetic flux rope could contain, has been widely studied in analytical models and numerical simulations, but still needs to be examined by observations. In this article, we will study twists released by 30 off-limb rotational solar coronal jets, and compare the observational findings with theoretical kink instability thresholds. We have found that: (1) the number of events with more twist release becomes less; (2) each of the studied jets has released a twist number of at least 1.3 turns (a twist angle of 2.6π); and (3) the size of a jet is highly related to its twist pitch instead of twist number. Our results suggest that the kink instability threshold in the solar atmosphere should not be a constant. The found lower limit of twist number of 1.3 turns should be merely a necessary but not a sufficient condition for a finite solar magnetic flux rope to become kink unstable.
first_indexed 2024-12-11T20:45:02Z
format Article
id doaj.art-d56fac9ae300448fb26e45c3d059c1c2
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2296-987X
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-11T20:45:02Z
publishDate 2019-06-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
spelling doaj.art-d56fac9ae300448fb26e45c3d059c1c22022-12-22T00:51:25ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences2296-987X2019-06-01610.3389/fspas.2019.00044448696How Many Twists Do Solar Coronal Jets Release?Jiajia Liu0Yuming Wang1Yuming Wang2Robert Erdélyi3Robert Erdélyi4Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Center, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United KingdomCAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, ChinaCAS Center for the Excellence in Comparative Planetology, Hefei, ChinaSolar Physics and Space Plasma Research Center, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United KingdomDepartment of Astronomy, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, HungaryHighly twisted magnetic flux ropes, with finite length, are subject to kink instabilities, and could lead to a number of eruptive phenomena in the solar atmosphere, including flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and coronal jets. The kink instability threshold, which is the maximum twist a kink-stable magnetic flux rope could contain, has been widely studied in analytical models and numerical simulations, but still needs to be examined by observations. In this article, we will study twists released by 30 off-limb rotational solar coronal jets, and compare the observational findings with theoretical kink instability thresholds. We have found that: (1) the number of events with more twist release becomes less; (2) each of the studied jets has released a twist number of at least 1.3 turns (a twist angle of 2.6π); and (3) the size of a jet is highly related to its twist pitch instead of twist number. Our results suggest that the kink instability threshold in the solar atmosphere should not be a constant. The found lower limit of twist number of 1.3 turns should be merely a necessary but not a sufficient condition for a finite solar magnetic flux rope to become kink unstable.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fspas.2019.00044/fullsolar eruptionssolar coronal jetsMHD instabilitiesmagnetic flux ropesmagnetic twists
spellingShingle Jiajia Liu
Yuming Wang
Yuming Wang
Robert Erdélyi
Robert Erdélyi
How Many Twists Do Solar Coronal Jets Release?
Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
solar eruptions
solar coronal jets
MHD instabilities
magnetic flux ropes
magnetic twists
title How Many Twists Do Solar Coronal Jets Release?
title_full How Many Twists Do Solar Coronal Jets Release?
title_fullStr How Many Twists Do Solar Coronal Jets Release?
title_full_unstemmed How Many Twists Do Solar Coronal Jets Release?
title_short How Many Twists Do Solar Coronal Jets Release?
title_sort how many twists do solar coronal jets release
topic solar eruptions
solar coronal jets
MHD instabilities
magnetic flux ropes
magnetic twists
url https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fspas.2019.00044/full
work_keys_str_mv AT jiajialiu howmanytwistsdosolarcoronaljetsrelease
AT yumingwang howmanytwistsdosolarcoronaljetsrelease
AT yumingwang howmanytwistsdosolarcoronaljetsrelease
AT roberterdelyi howmanytwistsdosolarcoronaljetsrelease
AT roberterdelyi howmanytwistsdosolarcoronaljetsrelease