A Method for Data-Driven Simulations of Evolving Solar Active Regions

We present a method for performing data-driven simulations of solar active region formation and evolution. The approach is based on magnetofriction, which evolves the induction equation assuming that the plasma velocity is proportional to the Lorentz force. The simulations of active region (AR) coronal field are driven by temporal sequences of photospheric magnetograms from the Helioseismic Magnetic Imager instrument on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory ( SDO ). Under certain conditions, the data-driven simulations produce flux ropes that are ejected from the modeled AR due to loss of equilibrium. Following the ejection of flux ropes, we find an enhancement of the photospheric horizontal field near the polarity inversion line. We also present a method for the synthesis of mock coronal images based on a proxy emissivity calculated from the current density distribution in the model. This method yields mock coronal images that are somewhat reminiscent of images of ARs taken by instruments such as SDO 's Atmospheric Imaging Assembly at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths.