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Detection of a Taylor-like Plasma Relaxation Process in the Sun and its Implication for Coronal Heating

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2005

Dibyendu Nandy
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA email: [email protected]
Michael Hahn
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
Richard C. Canfield
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA email: [email protected]
Dana W. Longcope
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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The relaxation dynamics of a magnetized plasma system is a subject of fundamental importance in MHD – with applications ranging from laboratory plasma devices like the Toroidal Field Pinch and Spheromaks to astrophysical plasmas, stellar flaring activity and coronal heating. Taylor in 1974 proposed that the magnetic field in a plasma (of small but finite resistivity) relaxes to a minimum energy state, subject to the constraint that its total magnetic helicity is conserved (Woltjer 1958), such that the final magnetic field configuration is a constant $\alpha$ (linear) force-free field – where $\alpha$ is a quantity describing the twist in magnetic field lines. However, a clear signature of this mechanism in astrophysical plasmas remained undetected. Here we report observational detection of a relaxation process, similar to what Taylor (1974, 1986) envisaged, in the magnetic fields of flare-productive solar active regions. The implications of this result for magnetic reconnection and the coronal heating problem are discussed.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
© 2004 International Astronomical Union