The Evolution of the Global Coronal Shock in the June 7, 2011 Event: An MHD Simulation Study

A variety of transient phenomena in the solar corona such as global EUV waves, type II radio bursts, coronal dimmings as well as coronal loop oscillations have the potential of being important diagnostic tools for space weather prediction purposes due to their intimate connection to coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and flares, and thereby, to the genesis of energetic particle populations in the heliosphere. However, the nature and interconnection of these phenomena remain veiled in spite of tremendous advancements in the observational capabilities during the past decades. In part, this stems from the inherent difficulty of interpreting the coronal remote observations as well as the complexity of the solar coronal dynamics. A viable path for gaining insight in to the physics of the eruption-associated phenomena is to construct numerical models capable of simulating the coronal dynamics with such a degree of realism that direct comparisons to observations can be made. To that end, we have conducted a global three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulation of the June 7, 2011 eruption. The dynamics of the launched global shock wave in the simulation matches closely the dynamics of the observed EUV wave, suggesting a close relationship between the two. The presented work focuses in particular on determining the evolution of the characteristics of the global coronal shock wave, and discussing the implications for the generation of solar energetic particle events.