Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2004
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004agufmsm51d..03n&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2004, abstract #SM51D-03
Other
7509 Corona, 7524 Magnetic Fields, 7835 Magnetic Reconnection
Scientific paper
For over three decades, E. N. Parker [Astrophys. J., 174, 499 (1972)] has argued that current sheets, or tangential discontinuities, of the magnetic field generally exist in magnetic equilibrium in astronomical magnetic fields, such as in stellar corona, and contribute to heating these plasmas to million degree temperatures, thus producing X-ray emission. We have recently presented a theorem [Phys. Plasmas, 5, 4028 (1998)] showing that the Parker model of coronal heating is rigorously viable. Our theorem proves that there can be at most one smooth magnetostatic equilibrium for a given smooth footpoint mapping between boundaries with line-tied magnetic fields. It follows that if such a static equilibrium is driven unstable by footpoint motions, there is no other smooth equilibrium for the plasma to relax to, leading to magnetic non-equilibrium and the formation of current sheets. New theoretical and numerical supports of this result will be presented. Possible topologies of such current sheets based on analytical considerations and numerical simulations will be discussed. Comparison will be made with methods of determining the locations of the current sheets (and thus possible sites of magnetic reconnection) based on theories of quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs).
Bhattacharjee Anirban
Ng Cindy
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