Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufmsh33b0415n&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #SH33B-0415
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
7509 Corona, 7519 Flares, 7524 Magnetic Fields, 7526 Magnetic Reconnection (2723, 7835), 7833 Mathematical And Numerical Techniques (0500, 3200)
Scientific paper
Line-tied magnetic fields play a central role in Parker's model of coronal heating [E. N. Parker, Astrophys. J., 174, 499, 1972]. Our previous result [C. S. Ng and A. Bhattacharjee, Phys. Plasmas, 5, 4028, 1998] shows that this model can be realized if a line-tied magnetic equilibrium produced by a smooth footpoint mapping becomes unstable and relaxes to a state with current sheets, leading to magnetic reconnection and heating. A flux-tube tectonics model driven by random footpoint motion [E. R. Priest, J. F. Heyvaerts, and A. M. Title, Astrophys. J., 576, 533, 2002] is revisited. It is shown that if the magnetic field is driven to a statistically steady state, a large current density inversely proportional to the square root of resistivity can fill the whole volume and thus results in a heating rate independent of resistivity. However, the field structures are likely to become unstable and reconnect before they can reach the statistically steady state. The three-dimensional line-tied island coalescence instability -- a possible instability in such systems -- is studied with numerical simulations. Magnetic reconnection in this configuration, which contains neither magnetic nulls nor closed field lines, is discussed. A generalization of the concept of quasi-separatrix layers and a new criterion for the detection of such layers is developed. The new criterion is shown to correlate strongly with reconnection sites. Scaling results from higher resolution simulations will be discussed. This research is supported by a National Science Foundation grant AST-0434322 and by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Bhattacharjee Anirban
Ng Cindy
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