Solar Magnetized Tornadoes: Rotational Motion in a Tornado-like Prominence
Abstract
Su et al. 2012 proposed a new explanation for filament formation and eruption, where filament barbs are rotating magnetic structures driven by underlying vortices on the surface. Such structures have been noticed as tornado-like prominences when they appear above the limb. They may play a key role as the source of plasma and twist in filaments. However, no observations have successfully distinguished rotational motion of the magnetic structures in tornado-like prominences from other motions such as oscillation and counter-streaming plasma flows. Here we report evidence of rotational motions in a tornado-like prominence. The spectroscopic observations in two coronal lines were obtained from a specifically designed Hinode/EIS observing program. The data revealed the existence of both cold and million-degree-hot plasma in the prominence leg, supporting the so-called "the prominence-corona transition region". The opposite velocities at the two sides of the prominence and their persistent time evolution, together with the periodic motions evident in SDO/AIA dark structures, indicate a rotational motion of both cold and hot plasma with a speed of 5 km s.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1312.5226,
title = {Solar Magnetized Tornadoes: Rotational Motion in a Tornado-like Prominence},
author = {Yang Su and Peter Gömöry and Astrid Veronig and Manuela Temmer and Tongjiang Wang and Kamalam Vanninathan and Weiqun Gan and Youping Li},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1312.5226},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
accepted by ApJ Letters