Abstract
Abstract Theoretical studies of electric current instability explaining solar prominence eruptions show that the loss of equilibrium may develop in a case when the surrounding magnetic field decreases sufficiently rapidly with height. The magnetic decay index, a parameter indicating whether the external magnetic field has a configuration that may lead to a certain type of electric current instability, is a useful instrument for predicting the behavior of prominences. In our study, we consider three eruptive prominences. We perform potential-field extrapolation to obtain the spatial distribution of the magnetic decay index in the coronal space identified with the prominences. Analysis of time-dependent height profiles of the prominences revealed that eruptions started at heights close to those, where the computed magnetic decay index exceeded a value equal to 1.5. This indicates that the torus instability is a possible mechanism of the considered eruptive events.
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