First SDO/AIA Observation of Solar Prominence Formation Following an Eruption: Magnetic Dips and Sustained Condensation and Drainage

Abstract

Imaging solar coronal condensation forming prominences was difficult in the past, a situation recently changed by Hinode and SDO. We present the first example observed with SDO/AIA, in which material gradually cools through multiple EUV channels in a transequatorial loop system that confines an earlier eruption. Nine hours later, this leads to eventual condensation at the dip of these loops, forming a moderate-size prominence of ~$10^{14}$ gram, to be compared to the characteristic $10^{15}$ gram mass of a CME. The prominence mass is not static but maintained by condensation at a high estimated rate of $10^{10}$ gram/sec against a comparable, sustained drainage through numerous vertical downflow threads, such that 96% of the total condensation (~$10^{15}$ gram) is drained in approximately one day. The mass condensation and drainage rates temporally correlate with the total prominence mass. The downflow velocity has a narrow Gaussian distribution with a mean of 30 km/s, while the downward acceleration distribution has an exponential drop with a mean of ~1/6 $g_{Sun}$, indicating a significant canceling of gravity, possibly by the Lorentz force. Our observations show that a macroscopic quiescent prominence is microscopically dynamic, involving the passage of a significant mass through it, maintained by a continual mass supply against a comparable mass drainage, which bears important implications for CME initiation mechanisms in which mass unloading is important.