Filament eruption in association with rotational motion near the filament footpoints

The active region magnetic field surrounding the filament plays an important role in filament formation, their evolution and disruption. We investigated a filament eruption that occurred in southern hemisphere of the Sun on July 08, 2011 using AIA and HMI data. The filament was located in a region close to the active region NOAA 11247 with its West-most footpoint anchored in the negative polarity plage region and the East-most in the positive polarity plage region. During observations, the magnetic flux was emerging in the active region and also in the plage regions. The flux emergence was stopped in West-most footpoint of the plage region about an hour before the filament eruption. A converging motion was also observed for many hours in the Western footpoint of the filament. The filament had left-handed twist and the net injected magnetic helicity was positive in both footpoints. Both sign of magnetic helicity were observed in the Western footpoint of the filament where the eruption has initiated. Further, an anti-clockwise rotational motion was observed in both the footpoints just after the onset of filament eruption which lasted for 6 min during the eruption process. The emerging flux, converging motion and injection of opposite magnetic helicity could be responsible for destabilizing of the Western footpoint of the filament leading to eruption. The torque imbalance between the expanded portion of the flux tube and the photosphere may have caused the rotation in the footpoint region which changed the trend in the injected magnetic helicity after the filament eruption.
Comment: Accepted by New Astronomy 2013 July 01. 12 pages, 13 figures