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American Astronomical Society, Astrophysical Journal Letters, 1(785), p. L2, 2014

DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/785/1/l2

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Solar Magnetized Tornadoes: Rotational Motion in a Tornado-like Prominence

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Su et al. 2012 proposed a new explanation for filament formation and eruption, where filament barbs are rotating magnetic structures driven by underlying vortices on the surface. Such structures have been noticed as tornado-like prominences when they appear above the limb. They may play a key role as the source of plasma and twist in filaments. However, no observations have successfully distinguished rotational motion of the magnetic structures in tornado-like prominences from other motions such as oscillation and counter-streaming plasma flows. Here we report evidence of rotational motions in a tornado-like prominence. The spectroscopic observations in two coronal lines were obtained from a specifically designed Hinode/EIS observing program. The data revealed the existence of both cold and million-degree-hot plasma in the prominence leg, supporting the so-called "the prominence-corona transition region". The opposite velocities at the two sides of the prominence and their persistent time evolution, together with the periodic motions evident in SDO/AIA dark structures, indicate a rotational motion of both cold and hot plasma with a speed of $∼$5 km s$^{-1}$. ; Comment: accepted by ApJ Letters