Abstract
A flare and fast coronal mass ejection originated between solar active regions NOAA 11514 and 11515 on 2012 July 1 (SOL2012-07-01) in response to flux emergence in front of the leading sunspot of the trailing region 11515. Analyzing the evolution of the photospheric magnetic flux and the coronal structure, we find that the flux emergence triggered the eruption by interaction with overlying flux in a non-standard way. The new flux neither had the opposite orientation nor a location near the polarity inversion line, which are favorable for strong reconnection with the arcade flux under which it emerged. Moreover, its flux content remained significantly smaller than that of the arcade (\({\approx}\,40~\%\)). However, a loop system rooted in the trailing active region ran in part under the arcade between the active regions, passing over the site of flux emergence. The reconnection with the emerging flux, leading to a series of jet emissions into the loop system, caused a strong but confined rise of the loop system. This lifted the arcade between the two active regions, weakening its downward tension force and thus destabilizing the considerably sheared flux under the arcade. The complex event was also associated with supporting precursor activity in an enhanced network near the active regions, acting on the large-scale overlying flux, and with two simultaneous confined flares within the active regions.
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Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge constructive comments by the referee, which were helpful in improving the clarity of this article. R.E.L. is grateful for the financial assistance from the German Science Foundation (DFG) under grant DE 787/3-1 and the European Commission’s FP7 Capacities Programme under the Grant Agreement number 312495. G.C. and B.K. acknowledge support by the NSF under Grant No. 1249270. B.K. also acknowledges support by the DFG. HMI data are courtesy of NASA/SDO and the HMI science team. They are provided by the Joint Science Operations Center – Science Data Processing at Stanford University. EUVI-B and COR1-B images are supplied courtesy of the STEREO Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (SECCHI) team. This work utilizes data obtained by the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) Program, managed by the National Solar Observatory, which is operated by AURA, Inc. under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The data were acquired by instruments operated by the Big Bear Solar Observatory, High Altitude Observatory, Learmonth Solar Observatory, Udaipur Solar Observatory, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, and Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory. We have used the SOHO/LASCO CME catalog, generated and maintained at the CDAW Data Center by NASA and The Catholic University of America in cooperation with the Naval Research Laboratory. SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.
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Solar and Stellar Flares: Observations, Simulations, and Synergies
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Louis, R.E., Kliem, B., Ravindra, B. et al. Triggering an Eruptive Flare by Emerging Flux in a Solar Active-Region Complex. Sol Phys 290, 3641–3662 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-015-0726-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-015-0726-8