Investigating the Magnetic Imprints of Major Solar Eruptions with SDO/HMI High-Cadence Vector Magnetograms

Abstract

The solar active region photospheric magnetic field evolves rapidly during major eruptive events, suggesting appreciable feedback from the corona. Previous studies of these "magnetic imprints" are mostly based on line-of-sight only or lower-cadence vector observations; a temporally resolved depiction of the vector field evolution is hitherto lacking. Here, we introduce the high-cadence (90~s or 135~s) vector magnetogram dataset from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) that is well suited for investigating the phenomenon. These observations allow quantitative characterization of the permanent, step-like changes that are most pronounced in the horizontal field component ($B_h$). A highly structured pattern emerges from analysis of an archetypical event, \texttt{SOL2011-02-15T01:56}, where $B_h$ near the main polarity inversion line increases significantly during the earlier phase of the associated flare with a time scale of several minutes, while $B_h$ in the periphery decreases at later times with smaller magnitudes and a slightly longer time scale. The dataset also allows effective identification of the "magnetic transient" artifact, where enhanced flare emission alters the Stokes profiles and the inferred magnetic field becomes unreliable. Our results provide insights on the momentum processes in solar eruptions. The dataset may also be useful to the study of sunquakes and data-driven modeling of the corona.