A Two-Sided-Loop X-Ray Solar Coronal Jet Driven by a Minifilament Eruption

Alphonse C. Sterling, Louise K. Harra, Ronald L. Moore, David A. Falconer

Published 2018-11-13Version 1

Most of the commonly discussed solar coronal jets are of the type consisting of a single spire extending approximately vertically from near the solar surface into the corona. Recent research supports that eruption of a miniature filament (minifilament) drives many such single-spire jets, and concurrently generates a miniflare at the eruption site. A different type of coronal jet, identified in X-ray images during the Yohkoh era, are two-sided-loop jets, which extend from a central excitation location in opposite directions, along low-lying coronal loops more-or-less horizontal to the surface. We observe such a two-sided-loop jet from the edge of active region (AR) 12473, using data from Hinode XRT and EIS, and SDO AIA and HMI. Similar to single-spire jets, this two-sided-loop jet results from eruption of a minifilament, which accelerates to over 140 km/s before abruptly stopping after striking overlying nearly-horizontal loop field at about 30,000 km altitude and producing the two-sided-loop jet. Analysis of EIS raster scans show that a hot brightening, consistent with a small flare, develops in the aftermath of the eruption, and that Doppler motions (approx 40 km/s) occur near the jet-formation region. As with many single-spire jets, the magnetic trigger here is apparently flux cancelation, which occurs at a rate of approx 4x10^18 Mx/hr, comparable to the rate observed in some single-spire AR jets. An apparent increase in the (line-of-sight) flux occurs within minutes of onset of the minifilament eruption, consistent with the apparent increase being due to a rapid reconfiguration of low-lying field during and soon after minifilament-eruption onset.