What is the source of the magnetic helicity shed by CMEs? The long-term helicity budget of AR 7978

• Autores: Démoulin, Pascal; Mandrini, Cristina Hemilse; van Driel Gesztelyi, Lidia; Thompson, B. J.; Plunkett, S.; Kovári, Zs.; Aulanier, G.; Young, A.
• Año de publicación: 2002
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Materia: SOLAR CORONA; CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS; SOLAR MAGNETIC FIELDS; SOLAR-TERRESTRIAL RELATIONS
• Institución: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

An isolated active region (AR) was observed on the Sun during seven rotations, starting from its birth in July 1996 to its full dispersion in December 1996. We analyse the long-term budget of the AR relative magnetic helicity. Firstly, we calculate the helicity injected by differential rotation at the photospheric level using MDI/SoHO magnetograms. Secondly, we compute the coronal magnetic field and its helicity selecting the model which best fits the soft X-ray loops observed with SXT/Yohkoh. Finally, we identify all the coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that originated from the AR during its lifetime using LASCO and EIT/SoHO. Assuming a one to one correspondence between CMEs and magnetic clouds, we estimate the magnetic helicity which could be shed via CMEs. We find that differential rotation can neither provide the required magnetic helicity to the coronal field (at least a factor 2.5 to 4 larger), nor to the field ejected to the interplanetary space (a factor 4 to 20 larger), even in the case of this AR for which the total helicity injected by differential rotation is close to the maximum possible value. However, the total helicity ejected is equivalent to that of a twisted flux tube having the same magnetic flux as the studied AR and a number of turns in the interval [0.5,2.0]. We suggest that the main source of helicity is the inherent twist of the magnetic flux tube forming the active region. This magnetic helicity is transferred to the corona either by the continuous emergence of the flux tube for several solar rotations (i.e. on a time scale much longer than the classical emergence phase), or by torsional Alfvén waves.
Fil: Démoulin, Pascal. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Observatoire de Paris; Francia
Fil: Mandrini, Cristina Hemilse. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciónes Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; Argentina
Fil: van Driel Gesztelyi, Lidia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Observatoire de Paris; Francia
Fil: Thompson, B. J.. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Goddart Institute for Space Studies; Estados Unidos
Fil: Plunkett, S.. Spece Sciences División. Naval Research Laboratory; Estados Unidos
Fil: Kovári, Zs.. Konkoly Observatory; Hungría
Fil: Aulanier, G.. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Observatoire de Paris; Francia
Fil: Young, A.. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Goddart Institute for Space Studies; Estados Unidos