Physics
Scientific paper
Apr 1994
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994soph..151..107r&link_type=abstract
Solar Physics, vol. 151, no. 1, p. 107-127
Physics
12
Coronal Loops, Magnetic Flux, Plasma Currents, Solar Magnetic Field, Solar Wind, Computerized Simulation, Magnetohydrodynamics, Mathematical Models, Photosphere
Scientific paper
The dynamics of interacting coronal loops and arcades have recently been highlighted by observations from the Yohkoh satellite and may represent a viable mechanism for heating the solar corona. Here such an interaction is studied using two-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. Initial potential field structures evolve in response to imposed photospheric flows. In addition to the anticipated current sheet about the X -point separating the colliding flux systems, significant current layers are found to lie all the way along the separatrices that intersect at the X -point and divide the coronal magnetic field into topologically distinct regions. Shear flows across the separatrices are also observed. Both of these features are shown to be compatible with recent analytical studies of two-dimensional linear steady-state magnetic reconnection, even though the driven system that has been simulated is not strictly 'open' in the sense implied by steady-state calculations. The implications for future steady-state models are also discussed. The presence of the neutral point also brings into question any constant-density approximations that have previously been used for such quasi-steady coronal evolution models. This results from the intimate coupling between the neutral point and its separatrices communicated via the gas pressure. In terms of the detailed energetics during the arcade evolution, preliminary results reveal that on the order of 3% of the energy injected by the footpoint motions is lost purely through ohmic dissipation. We would therefore anticipate a local hot spot between the interacting flux systems, and a brightening distributed along the length of any separatrix field lines. Furthermore, as the resistivity eta is reduced, the flux annihilation rate and the ohmic dissipation rate are found to scale independently of eta.
Priest Eric R.
Rickard Graham J.
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