Genesis and Coronal-jet-generating Eruption of a Solar Minifilament Captured by IRIS Slit-raster Spectra

Abstract

We present the first Mg ii slit-raster spectra from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) that fully capture the genesis and coronal-jet-generating eruption of a central-disk solar minifilament. The minifilament arose in a negative-magnetic-polarity coronal hole. The Mg ii spectroheliograms verify that the minifilament plasma temperature is chromospheric. The Mg ii spectra show that the erupting minifilament’s plasma has blueshifted upflow in the onset of the jet spire and simultaneous redshifted downflow at the location of the compact jet bright point (JBP). From the Mg ii spectra together with Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (SDO/AIA) EUV images and SDO/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) magnetograms, we find: (i) the minifilament forms above a flux-cancelation neutral line at an edge of a negative-polarity network flux clump; (ii) during the onset of the minifilament’s fast eruption and jet spire, the JBP begins brightening over the flux-cancelation neutral line. From IRIS2 inversion of the Mg ii spectra, the JBP’s Mg ii bright plasma has electron density, temperature, and downward (redshift) Doppler speed of 1012 cm−3, 6000 K, and 10 km s−1, respectively, and the growing spire shows clockwise spin. We speculate: (i) during the slow rise of the erupting minifilament-carrying a twisted flux rope, the top of the erupting flux-rope loop, by writhing, makes its field direction opposite to that of the encountered ambient far-reaching field; (ii) the erupting kink then can reconnect with the far-reaching field to create the spire and reconnect internally to create the JBP. We conclude that this coronal jet is normal in that magnetic flux cancelation builds a minifilament-carrying twisted flux rope and triggers the JBP-generating and jet-spire-generating eruption of the flux rope.