[IGPP Everyone] TODAY: Space Physics Special Seminar, 11AM Slichter 3853: "The Magnetic Flux Rope Nature of Coronal Mass Ejections" (A. Vourlidas, JHU/APL)

[Emmanuel V. Masongsong]

Wednesday June 22, 2016 11 AM 
Room 3853 Slichter 

“The Magnetic Flux Rope Nature of Coronal Mass Ejections” 

Angelos Vourlidas, JHU/APL 

The Sun ejects magnetic flux ropes (MFRs). According to all theories of solar eruptions, the ejection of an MFR is the only outcome for any eruption able to propagate into the heliosphere. Observations have been giving tantalizing indications of MFRs for years. However, coronal mass ejections (CMEs) come in a great variety of shapes and sizes and do not seem (at first sight) consistent with the eruption of a unique magnetic structure. On the other hand, evidence for pre-existing MFRs in the solar atmosphere has been controversial mostly because we do not know how an MFR is supposed to look like. Fortunately, clarity is fast spreading in this issue thanks to the deployment of the STEREO and SDO missions in the last decade. 

In this talk, I review the EUV and white light observations of CMEs and their sources to provide a comprehensive picture of the existence of MFRs in the corona and in CMEs. I try to explain the reasons for the difficulty in detecting them in the past and outline the remaining open issues and path forward in identifying MFRs. Understanding the lifetime of MFRs, from their emergence from the convection zone to their eruption and subsequent encounter with the terrestrial environment, is a cornerstone for a successful Space Weather prediction program. 
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