Comprehensive Analysis of the Formation of a Shock Wave Associated with a Coronal Mass Ejection

Abstract

Abstract On 2014 November 1, a solar prominence eruption associated with a C2.7 class flare and a type II radio burst resulted in a fast partial halo coronal mass ejection (CME). Images acquired in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) by the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and PROBA2/SWAP and in white light (WL) by Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph show the expansion of a bright compression front ahead of the CME. In this work, we present a detailed investigation of the CME-driven shock associated with this event following the early evolution of the compression front observed near the Sun up to the extended corona. Our aim is to shed light on the long-debated issue concerning the location and timing of shock formation in the corona. Through differential emission measure analysis, we derived, for the first time, the compression ratio across the expanding EUV front observed by AIA at different temperature ranges: higher compression ratios corresponded to higher plasma temperature ranges, as expected. Moreover, comparison between up- and downstream temperatures and those expected via adiabatic compression shows that no additional heating mechanisms occurred in the early front expansion phase, implying that the shock formed beyond the AIA field of view. Finally, the analysis of the associated type II radio burst, in combination with the inferred coronal density distribution, allowed us to identify a well-defined region located northward of the CME source region as the site for shock formation and to outline its kinematics in accordance with the evolution of the expanding front as obtained from the EUV and WL data.