Models of spots and flares
Abstract
Reference is made to laboratory experiments carried out in recent years showing that there are many more ways to drive a plasma out of equilibrium than to preserve equilibrium. With this in mind, it may be easier to understand why flares should occur in a stellar atmosphere (where convective jostling of field lines creates potential for driving a large number of instabilities) than why a long-lived feature such as a dark spot should persist. Work done on the equilibrium structure of cool spots in the sun and stars is summarized. Since spots involve complex interaction between convective flows and magnetic fields, observations are used as an aid in identifying the dominant processes that should enter into the modeling. The summary begins with a discussion of certain relevant properties of spots in the solar atmosphere. Attention is then given to the concentration of magnetic fields, the stability of spots, spot cooling and missing flux, and the relationship between spots and flares.
- Publication:
-
IAU Colloq. 71: Activity in Red-Dwarf Stars
- Pub Date:
- 1983
- DOI:
- 10.1007/978-94-009-7157-8_78
- Bibcode:
- 1983ASSL..102..527M
- Keywords:
-
- Photosphere;
- Solar Flares;
- Stellar Flares;
- Stellar Models;
- Sunspots;
- Magnetic Flux;
- Magnetohydrodynamic Stability;
- Plasma Equilibrium;
- Stellar Atmospheres;
- Stellar Magnetic Fields;
- Stellar Temperature;
- Astrophysics