HR: 1330h
AN: SH42B-0514    [PDF]
TI: Pre-eruption Magnetic Field Configurations with High Magnetic Energy Storage
AU: * Choe, G S
EM: gchoe@pppl.gov
AF: Princeton University, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ 08543 United States
AU: Cheng, C Z
EM: fcheng@pppl.gov
AF: Princeton University, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ 08543 United States
AB: Previously it was believed that the energy of a force-free field cannot exceed the energy of the corresponding open field. This proposition was established as the Aly-Sturrock Theorem. According to this theorem, the energy budget for coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and eruptive flares is very tight. Magnetograms and soft X-ray observations before solar eruptive events often indicate that the pre-eruption magnetic fields consist of multiple flux systems. We construct numerical solutions of force-free magnetic fields in multiple flux systems and investigate their eruption energetics. Our study of multiple flux systems shows that there can be many classes of force-free fields having more energy than the open fields. The energy of an interwinding two-flux system is found to exceed the open field energy for a winding angle near 360 degrees. Comparison of the numerically constructed solutions with observations of active eruption regions also reveals that the eruption indeed takes place for a winding angle slightly larger than 360 degrees. The dynamic evolution from high energy equilibria will be discussed based on 3D MHD simulations.
DE: 7513 Coronal mass ejections
DE: 7519 Flares
DE: 7524 Magnetic fields
DE: 7531 Prominence eruptions
SC: SPA - Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting