Evaluation of the Gibson-Low flux rope generation method in coronal mass ejection simulations

The Eruptive Event Generator – Gibson-Low (EEGGL) generates an unstable 3D flux rope from a given synoptic solar magnetogram that can be inserted into magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) coronal simulations for coronal mass ejection (CME) initiation. This model has been used extensively for CME simulation, both for studying the evolution of the CME itself and for generation of solar energetic particles that propagate throughout the heliosphere. EEGGL relies on empirical fitting of test events to find the relationship between the magnetogram, CME parameters, and flux rope geometry and strength. As part of the CLEAR NASA Center of Excellence at the University of Michigan, validation and enhancement of EEGGL is a key deliverable. In this presentation, we provide results from the updated EEGGL with improvements to enhance the robust nature of the code. A statistical validation is performed comparing synthetic white-light coronal images generated by the simulation to coronagraph observations, focusing on CME speed and strength. While past publications have occasionally optimized the flux rope based on a priori knowledge, we use larger statistics from agnostic runs to evaluate model performance. Such steps prepare the model for running in a fully-automated low-latency configuration.