2-D magnetohydrostatic configurations leading to flares or quiescent filament eruptions

Technical Report · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:7088945

An, C H; Suess, S T; Moore, R L

To investigate the cause of flares and quiescent filament eruptions the quasi-static evolution of a magnetohydrostatic (MHS) model was studied. The results lead to a proposal that: the sudden disruption of an active-region filament field configuration and the accompanying flare result from the lack of a neighboring equilibrium state as magnetic shear is increased above the critical value; and a quiescent filament eruption is due to an ideal MHD kink instability of a highly twisted detached flux tube formed by the increase of plasma current flowing along the length of the filament. A numerical solution was developed for the 2-D MHS equation for the self-consistent equilibrium of a filament and overlying coronal magnetic field. Increase of the poloidal current causes increase of magnetic shear. As shear increases past a critical point, there is a discontinuous topological change in the equilibrium configuration. It was proposed that the lack of a neighboring equilibrium triggers a flare. Increase of the axial current results in a detached tube with enough helical twist to be unstable to ideal MHD kink modes. It was proposed that this is the condition for the eruption of a quiescent filament.

• Research Organization: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Huntsville, AL (USA). George C. Marshall Space Flight Center
• OSTI ID: 7088945
• Report Number(s): N-88-25423; NASA-TM-101147; NAS-1.15:101147
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640104* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Solar Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
DATA
FLUID MECHANICS
HYDRODYNAMICS
INFORMATION
INSTABILITY
KINK INSTABILITY
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MATHEMATICS
MECHANICS
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
NUMERICAL DATA
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA MACROINSTABILITIES
SOLAR ACTIVITY
SOLAR FLARES
THEORETICAL DATA
TOPOLOGY