Origins and Formation of Solar Wind Transients 4 -- 7 August 2011. General Description of the Complex Event and Ion Charge State Evolution
2016
We present a case study of a complex event consisting of several solar wind transients detected by ACE on 4 -- 7 August 2011 which caused the geomagnetic storm with Dst = -115 nT, and their supposed coronal sources - three flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) occurred on 2 -- 4 August 2011 in AR 11261. To investigate the solar origins and formation of these transients we studied kinematic and thermodynamic properties of expanding coronal structures using the SDO/AIA EUV images and the differential emission measure (DEM) diagnostics. The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) magnetic field maps were used as the input data for the 3D magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) model to describe the flux rope ejection. We characterize the early phase of a flux rope ejection in the corona, where the usual three component structure is formed, the flux rope is ejected with the velocity at about 200 km $s^{-1}$ to the height of 186 Mm. The kinematics of the modeled CME front well agreed with the STEREO EUV measurements. Using the results of plasma diagnostics and MHD modeling, we calculated the ion charge ratios of carbon and oxygen as well as the mean charge state of iron ions of the 2 August 2011 CME taking into account the processes of heating, cooling, expansion, ionization and recombination of the expanding plasma in the corona up to the freeze-in region. By matching the calculated ion composition parameters of the CME with that measured in-situ parameters of the SW transients we estimated the probable heating rate of the CME plasma in the low corona. We also consider the similarities and discrepancies between the results of the MHD simulation and the observation of the event.
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