Magnetic reconnection, shear flow and the axial filament channel magnetic field
Abstract
The same processes leading to coronal heating also structure the global corona. Among these one of the most fascinating is the formation of filament channels. Here we discuss the formation and evolution of the axial magnetic field of filament channels as a result of the photospheric transport of magnetic field footpoints with flows converging to the neutral line leading to magnetic reconnection as well as some shearing of the magnetic field along the neutral line.The focus here is not on the large-scale 3D simulation of the formation of prominences or filaments but on the magnetic reconnection process itself, and its dependence on photospheric motions, stratification, and shear. Previous numerical simulations and models are used as a guide to setup numerical simulations and analytical calculations of tearing and reconnection leading to the enhancement of the coronal axial magnetic field. We generalize previous work by taking full account of recent advances in MHD turbulence and reconnection theory (plasmoid instability, reconnection rates, current sheet thicknesses) to associate the rate of enhancement of the axial magnetic field with observed photospheric flows and the consequent matter flows through the chromosphere up into the corona along the filament.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFMSH33D2251V
- Keywords:
-
- 7509 SOLAR PHYSICS;
- ASTROPHYSICS;
- AND ASTRONOMY / Corona