Evolution of morphological features of CMEs deduced from catastrophe model of solar eruptions

We describe the evolution of morphological features of the magnetic configuration of CME according to the catastrophe model developed previously. For the parameters chosen for the present work, roughly half of the total mass is nominally contained in the initial flux rope, while the remaining plasma is brought by magnetic reconnection from the corona into the current sheet and from there into the CME bubble. The physical attributes of the difference in the observable features between CME bubble and flare loop system were studied. We tentatively identified distinguishable evolutionary features like the outer shell, the expanding bubble and the flux rope with the leading edge, void and core of the 3-component CME structure. The role of magnetic reconnection is discussed as a possible mechanism for the heating of the prominence material during eruptions. Several aspects of this explanation that need improvement are outlined. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.