Numerical Simulation of a Global Eruptive Superflare

Benjamin J Lynch1, Vladimir Airapetian2, Maria Kazachenko1, C Richard DeVore3, William P Abbett1 and Theresa Lueftinger4, (1)University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States, (2)SEEC/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center & American University, DC, SEEC, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (3)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (4)University of Vienna, Department of Astronomy, Vienna, Austria
Abstract:
We present preliminary 3D MHD simulation results for a global eruptive flare. The magnetic field initialization is based on a low-order PFSS representation of a non-trivial dipolar magnetic field configuration with a significantly warped helmet streamer belt. We use a standard Parker isothermal solar wind solution for the coronal atmosphere and energize the global system with idealized shearing flows parallel to the radial field polarity inversion line. We examine the energy evolution of the global superflare showing a release of 7.1e+33 erg of magnetic free energy over the course of ~10 hours while the maximum kinetic energy increase of the CME eruption reaches 2.8e+33 erg, i.e. approximately the strength of the 1859 Carrington Event. We calculate the flare reconnection flux using a flare ribbon proxy and obtain Phi_rxn = 2.2e+23 Mx. Using the Kazachenko et al. [2017] relationship between flare class and reconnection flux derived from SDO/AIA data we estimate our global superflare corresponds to a GOES X58 class event. We examine the 3D spatial and temporal evolution of the shock, sheath, and magnetic flux rope ejecta and discuss potential space weather impacts.
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