Energy Buildup, Flux Confinement and Helicity Accumulation in the Solar Corona

• Published in: Chinese journal of astronomy and astrophysics Vol. 6; no. 1; pp. 77 - 86
• Main Authors: Hu, You-Qiu, Li, Wen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IOP Publishing 01.02.2006; School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026
• Subjects: 能量累积; 螺旋度; Sun: magnetic fields - Sun: force-free fields - methods: numerical
• ISSN: 1009-9271
• DOI: 10.1088/1009-9271/6/1/009

Starting from a dipole field ment of field lines on the photosphere, and a given distribution of footpoint displacewe find axisymmetric, force-free field solutions in spherical coordinates that have the same distribution of normal field on the photosphere and magnetic topology as the dipole field. A photospheric shear is introduced in the azimuthal direction in a region that strides across the equator and ends at latitude λs. The footpoint displacement has a sine distribution in latitude and a peak amplitude of φm. The magnetic energy E, azimuthal flux Fφ, and magnetic helicity lit in the solar corona are then calculated for each force-free field solution. It is found that for a given shear region range λs, all of the three quantities increase monotonically with increasing φm. In particular, both Fφ and HT have a linear dependence on φm. When φm reaches a certain critical value φmc, the force-free field loses equilibrium, leading to a partial opening of the field and the appearance of a current sheet in the equatorial plane. At this point, E, Fφ and HT reach their maximum values, Ec, Fφc and HTo Ec increases, and Fφc and HTc decrease with decreasing λs. It is found that Ec is always smaller than the open field energy, in agreement with the Aly conjecture. Of the three critical parameters, Ec has the weakest dependence on λs. Therefore, if one is interested in the transition of a magnetic configuration from a stable state to a dynamic one, the magnetic energy is probably the most appropriate marker of the transition.