On the partial eruption of a bifurcated solar filament structure

Abstract

ABSTRACT The partial eruption of a filament channel with bifurcated substructures is investigated using data sets obtained from both ground-based and space-borne facilities. Small-scale flux reconnection/cancellation events in the region triggered the pile-up of ambient magnetic field, observed as bright extreme ultraviolet (EUV) loops in close proximity to the filament channel. This led to the formation of a V-shaped cusp structure at the site of interaction between the coalesced EUV loops and the filament channel, with the presence of distinct plasmoid structures and associated bidirectional flows. Analysis of imaging data from SDO/AIA further suggests vertical splitting of the filament structure into two substructures. The perturbed upper branch of the filament structure rose up and erupted with the onset of an energetic GOES M1.4 flare at 04:30 ut on 2015 January 28. The estimated twist number and squashing factor obtained from non-linear force free-field extrapolation of the magnetic field data support the vertical split in the filament structure with high twist in the upper substructure. The loss in equilibrium of the upper branch due to torus instability implies that this is a potential triggering mechanism for the observed partial eruption.