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Super-elastic collision of large-scale magnetized plasmoids in the heliosphere

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Abstract

A super-elastic collision is an unusual process in which some mechanism causes the kinetic energy of the system to increase. Most studies have focused on solid-like objects, and have rarely considered gases or liquids, as the collision of these is primarily a mixing process. However, magnetized plasmoids are different from ordinary gases—as cross-field diffusion is effectively prohibited—but it remains unclear how they behave during a collision. Here we present a comprehensive picture of a unique collision between two coronal mass ejections in the heliosphere, which are the largest magnetized plasmoids erupting from the Sun. Our analysis reveals that these two magnetized plasmoids collided as if they were solid-like objects, with a likelihood of 73% that the collision was super-elastic. The total kinetic energy of the plasmoid system increased by about 6.6% through the collision, significantly influencing its dynamics.

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Figure 1: Configuration of the two CMEs, spacecraft and planets.
Figure 2: The STEREO/SECCHI images of the two CMEs and their collision in the heliosphere.
Figure 3: The time-elongation map from 2 to 9 November 2008 constructed on the basis of the running-difference images from STEREO-B.
Figure 4: The heliocentric distance d and the radius r, in units of solar radius, of the two CMEs as functions of time for the case that θ and ϕ of CME1 are 6° and 28°, respectively, and those of CME2 are 16° and 8°, respectively.
Figure 5: Likelihood of super-elastic collision calculated by varying the CMEs’ longitudes and speeds within their uncertainties.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the use of data from the SECCHI, IMPACT, PLASTIC and WAVES instruments on STEREO, LASCO on SOHO and WAVES on WIND. STEREO is the third mission in NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Probes programme, and SOHO is a mission of international cooperation between ESA and NASA. Y.W. also thanks N. Lugaz for some valuable discussion. This work is supported by grants from the 973 key project 2011CB811403, NSFC 41131065, 40904046, 40874075 and 41121003, CAS the Key Research Program KZZD-EW-01, 100-talent program, KZCX2-YW-QN511 and start-up fund, and MOEC 20113402110001 and the fundamental research funds for the central universities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China

    Chenglong Shen, Yuming Wang, Shui Wang, Rui Liu, Bin Miao, Pinzhong Ye, Jiajia Liu & Zhenjun Zhou

  2. Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

    Ying Liu

  3. State Key Laboratory of Space Weather, National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China

    Ying Liu

  4. Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC 20375, USA

    Angelos Vourlidas

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  1. Chenglong Shen
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Contributions

Y.W. designed the analysis of the collision and performed the theoretical derivations. C.S. found this event and carried out the data processing and calculations. S.W. gave constructive suggestions on the analysis of the collision. Y.L. gave some advice on the construction of the J-map and interpretation of the elongation angle. B.M. carried out the literature investigation and provided valuable additions. A.V. calculated the masses of the CMEs and gave many valuable suggestions. R.L. and P.Y. participated in the discussion and gave many suggestions. J.L. and Z.Z. made a contribution to the data analysis.

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Correspondence to Yuming Wang.

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Shen, C., Wang, Y., Wang, S. et al. Super-elastic collision of large-scale magnetized plasmoids in the heliosphere. Nature Phys 8, 923–928 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2440

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