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Paper: Simulations of the Magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor Instability in the Kippenhahn-Schlüter Prominence Model
Volume: 456, The Fifth Hinode Science Meeting
Page: 157
Authors: Hillier, A.; Berger, T.; Shibata, K.; Isobe, H.
Abstract: The launch of the Hinode satellite, with the Solar Optical Telescope, allowed for high resolution, high time cadence observations of prominences to be performed in the seeing free environment of space. The most striking discovery from these observations is of plumes, approximately 1 Mm in width, that propagate through the prominence material. The plumes initiate from underdense bubbles that form beneath prominences, rise at constant speeds of approximately 20 km s-1 and are formed in the conditions required for the magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor instability to occur. To study this phenomenon, we performed 3D simulations of the magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor instability in the Kippenhahn-Schlüter prominence model. The plumes formed in these simulations are filamentary structures that are aligned with the magnetic field created as 3D modes of the magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The plumes rise, developing large structures from smaller structures through an inverse cascade process driven by nonlinear interaction. The results suggest that the plumes observed in the prominence may be used to study the conditions inside the prominence.
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