Homologous Compact Major Blowout-eruption Solar Flares and their Production of Broad CMEs

Abstract

We analyze the formation mechanism of three homologous broad coronal mass ejections (CMEs) resulting from a series of solar blowout-eruption flares with successively increasing intensities (M2.0, M2.6, and X1.0). The flares originated from NOAA Active Region 12017 during 2014 March 28–29 within an interval of ≈24 hr. Coronal magnetic field modeling based on nonlinear force-free field extrapolation helps to identify low-lying closed bipolar loops within the flaring region enclosing magnetic flux ropes. We obtain a double flux rope system under closed bipolar fields for all the events. The sequential eruption of the flux ropes led to homologous flares, each followed by a CME. Each of the three CMEs formed from the eruptions gradually attained a large angular width, after expanding from the compact eruption-source site. We find these eruptions and CMEs to be consistent with the “magnetic-arch-blowout” scenario: each compact-flare blowout eruption was seated in one foot of a far-reaching magnetic arch, exploded up the encasing leg of the arch, and blew out the arch to make a broad CME.