An overview of flux braiding experiments

TY - JOUR

T1 - An overview of flux braiding experiments

AU - Wilmot-Smith, A. L.

N1 - ©2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

PY - 2015/5/28

Y1 - 2015/5/28

N2 - In a number of papers dating back to the 1970s, Parker has hypothesized that, in a perfectly ideal environment, complex photospheric motions acting on a continuous magnetic field will result in the formation of tangential discontinuities corresponding to singular currents. I review direct numerical simulations of the problem and find that the evidence points to a tendency for thin but finite-thickness current layers to form, with thickness exponentially decreasing in time. Given a finite resistivity, these layers will eventually become important and cause the dynamical process of energy release. Accordingly, a body of work focuses on evolution under continual boundary driving. The coronal volume evolves into a highly dynamic but statistically steady state where quantities have a temporally and spatially intermittent nature and where the Poynting flux and dissipation are decoupled on short time scales. Although magnetic braiding is found to be a promising coronal heating mechanism, much work remains to determine its true viability. Some suggestions for future study are offered.

AB - In a number of papers dating back to the 1970s, Parker has hypothesized that, in a perfectly ideal environment, complex photospheric motions acting on a continuous magnetic field will result in the formation of tangential discontinuities corresponding to singular currents. I review direct numerical simulations of the problem and find that the evidence points to a tendency for thin but finite-thickness current layers to form, with thickness exponentially decreasing in time. Given a finite resistivity, these layers will eventually become important and cause the dynamical process of energy release. Accordingly, a body of work focuses on evolution under continual boundary driving. The coronal volume evolves into a highly dynamic but statistically steady state where quantities have a temporally and spatially intermittent nature and where the Poynting flux and dissipation are decoupled on short time scales. Although magnetic braiding is found to be a promising coronal heating mechanism, much work remains to determine its true viability. Some suggestions for future study are offered.

KW - Corona

KW - Magnetic fields

KW - Magnetic reconnection

KW - The sun

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84928331195

U2 - 10.1098/rsta.2014.0265

DO - 10.1098/rsta.2014.0265

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:84928331195

SN - 1364-503X

VL - 373

JO - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences

JF - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences

IS - 2042

M1 - 20140265

ER -