ANGEO Annales Geophysicae ANGEO Ann. Geophys. 1432-0576 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/angeo-26-3077-2008 Why are CMEs large-scale coronal events: nature or nurture? van Driel-Gesztelyi L. 1 2 3 Attrill G. D. R. 1 Démoulin P. 2 Mandrini C. H. 4 Harra L. K. 1 University College London, Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, Surrey, RH5 6NT, UK Observatoire de Paris, LESIA, FRE 2461(CNRS), 92195 Meudon Principal Cedex, France Konkoly Observatory of Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio, CONICET-UBA, CC. 67, Suc. 28, 1428 Buenos Aires, Argentina 15 10 2008 26 10 3077 3088 Copyright: © 2008 L. van Driel-Gesztelyi et al. 2008 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is available from https://angeo.copernicus.org/articles/26/3077/2008/angeo-26-3077-2008.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://angeo.copernicus.org/articles/26/3077/2008/angeo-26-3077-2008.pdf

The apparent contradiction between small-scale source regions of, and large-scale coronal response to, coronal mass ejections (CMEs) has been a long-standing puzzle. For some, CMEs are considered to be inherently large-scale events – eruptions in which a number of flux systems participate in an unspecified manner, while others consider magnetic reconnection in special global topologies to be responsible for the large-scale response of the lower corona to CME events. Some of these ideas may indeed be correct in specific cases. However, what is the key element which makes CMEs large-scale? Observations show that the extent of the coronal disturbance matches the angular width of the CME – an important clue, which does not feature strongly in any of the above suggestions. We review observational evidence for the large-scale nature of CME source regions and find them lacking. Then we compare different ideas regarding how CMEs evolve to become large-scale. The large-scale magnetic topology plays an important role in this process. There is amounting evidence, however, that the key process is magnetic reconnection between the CME and other magnetic structures. We outline a CME evolution model, which is able to account for all the key observational signatures of large-scale CMEs and presents a clear picture how large portions of the Sun become constituents of the CME. In this model reconnection is driven by the expansion of the CME core resulting from an over-pressure relative to the pressure in the CME's surroundings. This implies that the extent of the lower coronal signatures match the final angular width of the CME.

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