Coronal Canals

Physics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

7509 Corona, 7524 Magnetic Fields

Scientific paper

As the first mission of LWS, one of SDO's most important goals will be to determine how the plasma and magnetic structures observed on the Sun connect to those observed in the heliosphere. In this paper, we show that the topology of the coronal open field, (and consequently the geometry of the heliospheric current sheet), is likely to be much more complex than previously believed. Using the source-surface model, we calculate the response of a polar coronal hole to the slow emergence of a high-latitude bipolar active region. We show that at a critical point in the active region growth, the coronal hole boundary must jump discontinuously to form a narrow channel of open field that encircles the trailing polarity spot. Contrary to a common misconception, the open field region does not form a new coronal hole that is disconnected from the polar one, but remains as one continuously connected region. The boundary of the open field region, however, acquires enormous structure, with canals that extend down to low latitudes. We argue that these open-field canals are the explanation for the wide-spread belief that open field emanates from closed field regions. We also discuss how magnetic reconnection would, in fact, lead to the type of structure produced by the source-surface model,and how SDO would observe the canals on the Sun. This work was supported in part by NASA and ONR.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Coronal Canals does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Coronal Canals, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Coronal Canals will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1436215

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.