Abstract
We have studied chromospheric mass injection into an overlying coronal dipole magnetic field using a 2-D ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) numerical model. The results indicate that such injection can produce magnetic field deformation conducive to active region prominences - namely, Kippenhahn-Schlüter (K-S) type configurations for stable support of injected plasma. We show the optimum conditions for such dynamical formation of K-S-type field configurations.
Observations show that an active region prominence formation is preceded by the accumulation of absorptive strands above a neutral line. We hypothesize that an absorptive strand is formed by a chromospheric asymmetric mass injection into the overlying coronal magnetic field and that a necessary condition for the accumulation of the strands is that the mass injection forms a K-S-type field configuration. The results of our numerical simulation of the injection dynamics support our hypothesis. To form a K-S-type magnetic field configuration, we find that a narrow range of injection density, velocity, and magnetic field strength must be used; spicule-like, asymmetric mass injection seems favorable.
The limited parameter range that exists for the formation of K-S-type magnetic field configurations in asymmetric injections may explain why active region prominences do not form everywhere on every neutral line.
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An, CH., Bao, J.J. & Wu, S.T. Numerical simulation of mass injection for the formation of prominence magnetic field configurations. Sol Phys 115, 81–92 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00146231
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00146231