Disruption of the October 3, 2024 CME by the Heliospheric Current Sheet – A Sun-to-Earth Analysis

We investigate combined remote-sensing and in-situ data for a case study on a coronal mass ejection (CME) interacting with the nearby located heliospheric current sheet (HCS). The CME is related to the largest directly observed flare (X9.0) of solar cycle 25 on October 3, 2024. We find the CME source region to be a so-called nested active region, hence, persisting over several solar rotations. The active region and its evolution is therefore significantly linked to the structure of the global magnetic field. In-situ measurements indicate that a combined system of HCS and CME structures is propagating outward and generating a weak shock front ahead of it. The CME itself is highly interrupted by clear HCS-related structures, i.e., the heliospheric plasma sheet. The interaction process might have caused the CME-related shock-sheath region to be separated from the magnetic ejecta part by almost 40 hours. This event shows the intrinsic relation between solar surface structures, global magnetic field and the evolution of complex eruptive events.