Physics
Scientific paper
May 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agusm..sh51b04c&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2001, abstract #SH51B-04
Physics
7513 Coronal Mass Ejections, 7519 Flares, 7524 Magnetic Fields, 7843 Numerical Simulation Studies
Scientific paper
In typical CME (coronal mass ejection) observations, a loop structure bulges out and keeps expanding to leave a ray-like structure extended from the sun outward. If we accept that the magnetic field delineates the observed bright features of CMEs, the observations indicate an opening up of the initially closed magnetic field during CMEs. Indeed, solar flares are often observed after CMEs in the lower part of the current sheet formed by the open field. It had long been a puzzle whether a closed magnetic field can have more energy than the open field with the same normal field distribution on the photospheric boundary. A decade ago, Aly and Sturrock independently proved that closed force-free fields cannot have more energy than the corresponding open field. Since then, this thesis has been established as the Aly-Sturrock theorem. However, their proof is valid only for a limited set of force-free fields that can be generated from a potential field, which may contain tangential discontinuities, by footpoint motions conserving the boundary normal field distribution. In this paper, we investigate a more general class of force-free fields than are considered in the proof of Aly and Sturrock. Although magnetic field systems containing magnetic knots or magnetic tori are evidently beyond the scope of their proof, such fields will not be treated here because they are unlikely to appear in the solar atmosphere. In this study, we numerically generate 3D closed, unknotted, force-free fields that cannot be obtained from a potential field by any footpoint motions conserving the boundary normal field, and we examine whether the Aly-Sturrock theorem can be extended to this class of force-free fields.
Cheng C. Z.
Choe Gwang-Son
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