Simultaneous Eruption and Shrinkage of Preexisting Flare Loops during a Subsequent Solar Eruption

Abstract

We investigated two consecutive solar eruption events in the solar active region 12994 at the solar eastern limb on 2022 April 15. We found that the flare loops formed by the first eruption were involved in the second eruption. During the initial stage of the second flare, the middle part of these flare loops (E-loops) erupted outward along with the flux ropes below, while the parts of the flare loops (I-loops1 and I-loops2) on either side of the E-loops first rose and then contracted. Approximately 1 hr after the eruption, the heights of I-loops1 and I-loops2 decreased by 9 Mm and 45 Mm, respectively, compared to before the eruption. Their maximum descent velocities were 30 km s−1 and 130 km s−1, respectively. The differential emission measure results indicate that the plasma above I-loops1 and I-loops2 began to be heated about 23 minutes and 44 minutes after the start of the second flare, respectively. Within ∼20 minutes, the plasma temperature in these regions increased from ∼3 MK to ∼6 MK. We proposed an adiabatic heating mechanism where magnetic energy would be converted into thermal and kinetic energy when the prestretched loops contract. Our calculations show that the magnetic energy required to heat the two high-temperature regions are 1029–1030 erg, which correspond to a loss of field strength of 2–3 G.