MHD Modelling of Solar Coronal Jets

Peter Wyper (University of Durham)

Thursday 27th September, 2018 14:00-15:00 Maths 311B

Abstract

Coronal jets are long, tapered jets of plasma launched impulsively from low in the solar corona. They occur prolifically across the solar surface but are most readily observed in coronal holes where the ambient coronal plasma is slightly cooler, and on the edges of active regions where jets are the most energetic. There is broad consensus that jets are the result of reconnection between a small, closed field region at the jet base and the ambient open (or distantly closing) field which surrounds it. However, the manner of this reconnection process is still under debate. Recent observations have revealed that many jets involve the eruption of a small-scale filament of dense plasma (a “mini-filament”), suggesting a possible link between this kind of jet and the large-scale filament eruptions which produce Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). In this talk I will briefly review the observational features of jets and discuss the various modelling efforts I have undertaken to understand these events better. In particular, I will present an MHD model for jets driven by the eruption of a mini-filament and (a) explain how this unifies our understanding of jets and certain CMEs and (b) show the adaptability of the model to a variety of different magnetic field topologies and surface evolutions typical of jetting regions.

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