The Formation of Prominences by Thermal Instability - a Numerical Study

A two-dimensional model of prominence formation in a region containing a magnetic neutral sheet is constructed for a variety of initial conditions, assuming the coronal plasma to be described by the usual hydromagnetic approximation, with infinite electric conductivity. In each case the magnetic field is initially vertical, varying antisymmetrically with respect to the neutral sheet, to a maximum value at a distance of 70 000 km from the neutral sheet. In the first case, the plasma is initially in hydrostatic equilibrium, whereas in successive cases, the pressure is assumed to be of such a value that the plasma is in lateral equilibrium of total pressure (gas plus magnetic). In a variation of this case, the value of the solar gravitational field was artificially reduced, and the effects considered.