Sympathetic Eruption of Two Filaments and Associated Solar Coronal Jet

TL;DR

This study analyzes a sympathetic eruption of two solar filaments and the associated coronal jet observed on 2024 January 11. By combining multi-instrument imaging (SDO/AIA, GONG, CHASE/HIS) with NLFFF magnetic-field extrapolation, it traces a partial eruption of F1 followed by a sympathetic eruption of F2, and a jet that deflects by about $90^{\circ}$ along a pre-existing loop. F2's eruption is a failed eruption, yet it launches a substantial jet with untwisting motion and multiple dynamical phases; a homologous jet the day before suggests the shared loop system constrains the jet path and explains the lack of a CME. NLFFF decay-index analysis indicates the common arcade remained largely intact, implying the sympathetic eruption was driven by inter-filament plasma transport and local magnetic perturbations rather than global overlying-field weakening. Overall, the work advances understanding of how small-scale filament dynamics couple to large-scale magnetic topology to produce complex, deflected jets and sympathetic eruptions in the solar corona.

Abstract

Combining the high-quality observations from the {\it Solar Dynamics Observatory} (SDO), the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG), and the Chinese H$α$ Solar Explorer (CHASE), we report a solar coronal jet triggered by the sympathetic eruption of two filaments on 2024 January 11. Initially, the western segment of an active region filament erupted. The erupting plasma propagated eastward, approximately along the filament's axis. This eruption perturbed the magnetic field of a second filament situated near its eastern footpoint, the second filament then erupted sympathetically about one hour later. The eruption of the second filament is a failed one, with the majority of the filament material falling back after the initial lifting. Although no GOES flare accompanied these filament eruptions, distinct brightenings were observed following each eruption. The second eruption produced a large coronal jet, which propagated along a bent trajectory with an apparent deflection angle of approximately 90 degrees. No clear evidence of magnetic reconnection was detected at the deflection site, thus we suspect that the jet may have traveled along an S-shaped trans-equatorial loop and shown a curved trajectory. This event exhibits multiple phenomena: partial filament eruption, failed filament eruption, sympathetic filament eruption, jet initiation by filament eruption, and apparently deflected jet propagation. Collectively, these observations highlight the complexity and diversity of solar activity.

Figures (7)

• Figure 1: AIA 304 Å (a1-a2), 171 Å (c1-c2), CHASE H$\alpha$ (b1-b2) images and HMI LOS magnetograms (d1-d2) show the filaments and their surroundings prior to eruption. The white rectangles in the top row show the field of view (FOV) of the bottom row, while the white dotted curves indicate the trajectory of the following jet at 03:40:17 UT. The white arrows in panels (b1) and (b2) point to a quiescent filament QF and two filaments F1 and F2, while the blue and red curves in panel (d2) indicate the traced spines of F1 and F2 from panel (a2) by manual visual inspection. The white and blue contours superimposed on panels (a1), (a2) and (c2) represent the simultaneous HMI LOS magnetic field with intensities of $\pm 150$, $\pm 400$, and $\pm 600$ Gauss.
• Figure 2: AIA 304 Å, 171 Å and 211 Å images show the sympathetic eruption of filaments F1 and F2. The dotted and solid white curves in panels (a1) and (c) indicate the spines of F1 and F2 obtained from 304 Å image at 00:26:53 UT by manual visual inspection, respectively. The dotted blue curve AB in panel (a3) shows the slit position of the time-slice plots in Figure 3. The white arrows in different panels point out some noteworthy features during the eruption. The FOV is the same as that of the bottom row of Figure 1. (An animation of AIA 304, 211, 171, and 335 Å direct images with the same FOV accompanies this figure. The 29-second animation covers the period from 01:30 UT to 03:59 UT. The observation cadence of the images is 12 s.)
• Figure 3: AIA 304, 171, 211, and 335 Å time-distance plots. The time-slices are constructed along the slit AB shown in Figure 2. The blue dotted lines in panel (b) mark the eruption of F1. The eruption and fall of F2 are visible in the right-hand side of all panels. The white arrows in panel (a) and the white dotted lines in panel (b) point out some traces of plasma flow following the eruption of F1. The dashed white line indicates the approximate time of F2's eruption inferred from the time-slice of 211 Å images.
• Figure 4: (a1-b4) Weak flares associated with eruptions of F1 and F2 showed in AIA 1600 Å and GONG H$\alpha$ images. The axes of F1 and F2 obtained by manual visual inspection before the eruptions are superimposed as blue and red curves, respectively. The FOV is the same as in Figure 2. (c) Normalized light curves of the AIA 1600 Å and six EUV wavebands calculated in the FOV of the above images.
• Figure 5: The coronal jet driven by the sympathetic filament eruptions. (a1-a8) AIA 304 Å direct images. (b1-b4) AIA 304 Å fixed-base difference images and 171 Å running difference images. The white arrows point out the jet, and the black arrows point out the erupting filament F2 and the brightening Br2. The blue arrows indicate the positions of two slits S1 and S2, which are used for the time-slice plots shown in Figure 6. The FOV is the same as that of the top row of Figure 1. (c1-c4) AIA 304 Å images and HMI LOS magnetogram of the previous day showing a homologous jet occurred in the same region. The white circles indicate an approximate region where the south end of the jet rooted. (An animation of AIA 304 Å direct images, 304 Å fixed-base difference images, and 171 Å running difference images are available. This animation corresponds to the top three rows of the figure above, with the same FOV and a cadence of 12 s. The animation lasts 29 seconds and covers the period from 01:30 UT to 03:59 UT on 2024 January 11. )