Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2012
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2012apj...750...25w&link_type=abstract
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 750, Issue 1, article id. 25 (2012).
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Sun: Corona, Sun: Coronal Mass Ejections
Scientific paper
The energy that drives solar eruptive events such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) almost certainly originates in coronal magnetic fields. Such energy may build up gradually on timescales of days or longer before its sudden release in an eruptive event, and the presence of free magnetic energy capable of rapid release requires nonpotential magnetic fields and associated electric currents. For magnetic energy to power a CME, that energy must be sufficient to open the magnetic field to interplanetary space, to lift the ejecta against solar gravity, and to accelerate the material to speeds of typically several hundred km s–1. Although CMEs are large-scale structures, many originate from relatively compact active regions on the solar surface—suggesting that magnetic energy storage may be enhanced when it takes place in smaller magnetic structures. This paper builds on our earlier work exploring energy storage in large-scale dipolar and related bipolar magnetic fields. Here we consider two additional cases: quadrupolar fields and concentrated magnetic bipoles intended to simulate active regions. Our models yield stored energies whose excess over that of the corresponding open field state can be greater than 100% of the associated potential field energy; this contrasts with maximum excess energies of only about 20% for dipolar and symmetric bipolar configurations. As in our previous work, energy storage is enhanced when we surround a nonpotential field with a strong overlying potential field that acts to "hold down" the nonpotential flux as its magnetic energy increases.
Drake Christina
Kennedy Max
Wolfson Richard
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