The Physics of CME Propagation

Abstract:

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) have been the subject of intense investigation since their discovery more than forty years ago, which have produced enormous advances in our understanding of the structure and dynamics of CMEs. Here, we examine the results of numerical simulations to identify a wide range of physical processes that govern the interaction of CMEs with the corona and the larger heliosphere. We focus on processes which determine the bulk transport of plasma and magnetic flux including kinematic effects, magnetohydrodynamic instabilities and magnetic reconnection. We compare simulation results to remote-sensing observations and in-situ measurements to both verify the models and explain a number of observed properties of interplanetary CMEs.