Abstracts submitted by Carla Jacobs
Numerical simulations of CME initiation and evolution
C. Jacobs, B. van der Holst, S. Poedts
Centrum voor Plasma-Astrofysica, K.U.Leuven, Belgium
It is well known that Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are one of the most important drivers of the space weather. Mathematical modelling of these violent solar events, might help us to get a better understanding of the evolution and impact of CMEs and is essential for a deeper insight into space weather physics. Due to the complexity of the problem, numerical modelling of solar transients is a challenging task and asks for a large amount of computational power and the continuous improvement of numerical techniques and physical models. During the last couple of years significant progress has been made in the field of computational magneto-fluid-dynamics applied to solar related phenomena. This progress is due to the improved computer facilities and also to the inclusion of more realistic, data-driven boundary conditions in the models.
We present recent results from numerical simulations of the initiation and interplanetary evolution of CMEs performed in the framework of ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). As a first step the stationairy background solar wind has to be reconstructed. Both axi-symmetric (2.5D) solar wind models for the quiet Sun as more complicated 3D models are created. In a second step, fast CME events are mimicked by superposing high-density plasma blobs on the background wind. Both 2.5D and 3D models, including a magnetic flux rope are available. In this way, the evolution of the CME can be modelled and its effects on the coronal field and background solar wind studied. In addition, more realistic CME onset models have been developed to investigate the possible role of magnetic foot point shearing and magnetic flux emergence/disappearance as triggering mechanism of the instability. |
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