What Models Tell Us About The Relationship Between CME Dynamics and Current Sheet Energetics
Abstract
Observers have noted correlations between peak CME acceleration and the rise of soft X-ray flare emission. One reason given for this observation is that acceleration of the flux rope and the thermal energy release rate are are both consequences of the reconnection process, and should thus have similar time profiles. CME models provide useful frameworks for examining this question in detail. Using an analytical CME model, we find that the correlation between thermal energy release rate and flux rope acceleration is good for cases where the background magnetic field is high and the reconnection rate is fast, but that the correlation is poor for cases with low background magnetic fields and slow reconnection rates. In this analytical model, we assume that the Poynting flux into the current sheet is completely thermalized. We re-examine these results in light of recent 2.5D numerical simulations aimed at understanding the energy balance in the current sheet during an eruption.
- Publication:
-
37th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- 2008
- Bibcode:
- 2008cosp...37.2584R