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The propagation of torsion along flux tubes subject to dynamical nonequilibriumIt is noted that the dynamical nonequilibrium of close-packed flux tubes is driven by the torsion in the individual tubes. Because of this, whenever tubes with the same sense of twisting come into contact, there is reconnection of their azimuthal field components. The reconnection consumes the local torsion, and this causes the propagation of torsional Alfven waves into the region from elsewhere along the tubes. The formal problem of the propagation of the torsion along twisted flux tubes is presented, along with some of the basic physical properties worked out in the limit of small torsion. It is noted that in tubes with finite twisting the propagation of torsional Alfven waves can be a more complicated phenomenon. Application to the sun suggests that the propagation of torsion from below the visible surface up into the corona is an important energy supply to the corona for a period of perhaps 10-20 hours after the emergence of the flux tubes through the surface of the sun, bringing up torsion from depths of 10,000 km or more. Torsion is of course continually furnished by the manipulation and shuffling of the field by the convection.
Document ID
19830062407
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Parker, E. N.
(Chicago, University Chicago, IL, United States)
Date Acquired
August 11, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1983
Publication Information
Publication: Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics
Volume: 24
Issue: 4 19
ISSN: 0309-1929
Subject Category
Solar Physics
Accession Number
83A43625
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NGL-14-001-001
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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