The Formation of Solar Prominences: Plasma Origin and Mechanisms Article Swipe
Solar prominences, or solar filaments, are cool and dense plasma structures in the hot solar corona, whose formation mechanisms have remained a fundamental challenge in solar physics. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current theoretical, numerical, and observational understanding of prominence formation, with a focus on the origin of the dense plasma component. We begin by summarizing the magnetic field configurations that enable prominence support, followed by a classification of four representative plasma formation mechanisms: injection, levitation, evaporation--condensation, and in-situ condensation. Each mechanism is analyzed in terms of its physical basis, numerical realizations, and observational diagnostics. A central focus is placed on the evaporation--condensation scenario, which has seen significant development over the past decade through numerical simulations. We also discuss recent progress in modeling in-situ condensation triggered by magnetic reconnection and levitation dynamics. Throughout, we emphasize the complementary nature of different mechanisms and their potential coexistence in forming and maintaining prominence mass. Observational constraints and recent high-resolution data are reviewed to assess the physical plausibility of each mechanism. We conclude by highlighting open questions and future directions in connecting multi-scale physical processes to the observed diversity of prominence behaviors.
Related Topics
Concepts
Plasma
Solar prominence
Physics
Focus (optics)
Magnetic reconnection
Condensation
Mechanism (biology)
Solar wind
Astrobiology
Observational study
Solar physics
Dense plasma focus
Numerical models
Magnetic field
Solar atmosphere
Field (mathematics)
Magnetohydrodynamics
Sunspot
Astrophysics
Computational physics
Current (fluid)
Metadata
- Type
- preprint
- Landing Page
- https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2511.14374
- OA Status
- green
- OpenAlex ID
- https://openalex.org/W7106206572
All OpenAlex metadata
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- OpenAlex ID
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https://openalex.org/W7106206572Canonical identifier for this work in OpenAlex
- DOI
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https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2511.14374Digital Object Identifier
- Title
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The Formation of Solar Prominences: Plasma Origin and MechanismsWork title
- Type
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preprintOpenAlex work type
- Publication year
-
2025Year of publication
- Publication date
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2025-11-18Full publication date if available
- Authors
-
Zhou, YuhaoList of authors in order
- Landing page
-
https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2511.14374Publisher landing page
- Open access
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YesWhether a free full text is available
- OA status
-
greenOpen access status per OpenAlex
- OA URL
-
https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2511.14374Direct OA link when available
- Concepts
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Plasma, Solar prominence, Physics, Focus (optics), Magnetic reconnection, Condensation, Mechanism (biology), Solar wind, Astrobiology, Observational study, Solar physics, Dense plasma focus, Numerical models, Magnetic field, Solar atmosphere, Field (mathematics), Magnetohydrodynamics, Sunspot, Astrophysics, Computational physics, Current (fluid)Top concepts (fields/topics) attached by OpenAlex
- Cited by
-
0Total citation count in OpenAlex
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