Magnetic Flux Erosion and Redistribution during CME Propagation
Benoit Lavraud1, Alexis Ruffenach2, Ward Manchester3, Charles J Farrugia4, Pascal Demoulin5, Sergio Dasso6, Jean-Andre Sauvaud7, Alexis P Rouillard8, Claire Foullon9, Mathew James Owens10, Neel Savani11, Primoz Kajdic12, Janet G Luhmann13 and Antoinette Broe Galvin4, (1)LAB, Toulouse, France, (2)IRAP, Toulouse, France, (3)University of Michigan, Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, Ann Arbor, United States, (4)University of New Hampshire, Durham, United States, (5)LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université de Paris, Meudon, France, (6)University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina, (7)IRAP/CNRS, Toulouse, France, (8)Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier, Observatoire Midi–Pyrénées, CNRS, CNES, IRAP, Toulouse, France, (9)University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4, United Kingdom, (10)University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom, (11)Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, United States, (12)National Autonomous University of Mexico, Ciudad DE Armería, Mexico, (13)Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, United States
Abstract:
We will review recent works which highlight the occurrence of magnetic flux erosion and redistribution at the front of coronal mass ejections (when they have the structure of a well-defined magnetic cloud). Two main processes have been found and will be presented. The first comes from the occurrence of magnetic reconnection between the magnetic cloud and its sheath ahead, leading to magnetic flux erosion and redistribution, with associated large scale topological changes. The second may occur when dense filament material in the coronal mass ejection pushes its way through the structure and comes in direct contact with the shocked plasma in the sheath ahead. This leads to diverging non-radial flows in front of the CME which transport poloidal flux of the flux rope to the sides of the magnetic cloud.
