Stability of a magnetic structure producing an M6.5 flare in the active region 12371

We study the stability of the magnetic structure in active region (AR) 12371 producing an M6.5 flare on June 22 2015. We first perform a nonlinear force-free fields (NLFFFs) extrapolation to derive three-dimensional (3D) magnetic fields based on time series of observed photospheric magnetic fields. The NLFFFs well describe an observed sigmoidal structure with the shape of a double arc magnetic configuration. Next, we examine three possible instabilities (kink, torus, and double arc) to investigate how the M6.5 flare is triggered in the double arc loops. Consequently, the double arc loops are stable against kink and torus instabilities, but possibly unstable against the double arc instability before the flare occurrence. Finally, we discuss a probable scenario for the M6.5 flare.