Rigorous Calculation of the Energy Release in Solar Eruptions with the SCEPTER Model

Magnetic reconnection in coronal current sheet(s) is widely believed to be the main energy release process powering solar eruptive events, such as flares, coronal mass ejections (CME), and coronal jets. Modeling this process and determining the channels for the energy release, mass motions and heating, has long been a major goal in space science. We present results from a two-fluid MHD simulation of an eruptive flare/CME using a newly developed Strategic Capability, SCEPTER, which is based on the well-validated and widely used Space Weather Modeling Framework. SCEPTER incorporates two major advances in numerical capability. First, we use the STITCH formalism for the energy buildup, so that we start with a potential-field minimum-energy state and slowly form a sheared filament channel over a polarity inversion line as is observed on the Sun. Second, we use a new formulation of the plasma energetics that is explicitly energy conserving while calculating separate electron and ion temperatures and separate parallel and perpendicular pressures, as desired. For this first simulation with our new model, we opted for the non-adiabatic heating to go solely into the protons and for an isotropic pressure. We discuss the resulting energetics of the reconnection and, in particular, the plasma heating in the reconnecting current sheets, mass acceleration, and shock formation. We also discuss the implications of our results for understanding solar eruptions, in general.

 

This work was supported by the NASA Living With a Star Program.