SH11D-05:
The Interaction of Solar Eruptions and Large-Scale Coronal Structures Revealed Through Modeling and Observational Analysis
Monday, 15 December 2014: 9:00 AM
Rebekah M Evans1,2, Antonia Stefanova Savcheva3, Jenna Lynn Zink1, Karin Muglach4, Kamen A Kozarev5, Merav Opher6 and Bart van der Holst7, (1)George Mason University Fairfax, Fairfax, VA, United States, (2)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (3)Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, United States, (4)Artep Inc., Ellicott City, MD, United States, (5)Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States, (6)Boston University, Boston, MA, United States, (7)University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
Abstract:
We use numerical and observational approaches to explore how the interaction of a coronal mass ejection (CME) with preexisting structures in the solar atmosphere influences its evolution and space weather effects. We study two aspects of CME evolution: deflection of the CME’s propagation direction, and expansion. First, we perform a statistical study of the influence of coronal holes on CME trajectories for more than 50 events during years 2010-2014. Second, we use the Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF) to model CME propagation in the Alfven Wave Solar Model (AWSoM), which includes a sophisticated treatment of the physics of coronal heating and solar wind acceleration. The major progress in these simulations is that the initial conditions of the eruptions are highly data-constrained. From the simulations, we determine the CME’s trajectory and expansion. We calculate the pile-up of material along the front and sides of a CME due to its expansion, and constrain the properties of the pile-up under a range of conditions. Finally, we will discuss the connection between these plasma density structures and the acceleration of protons to energies relevant to space weather.
