Magnetohydrodynamic Modeling of Coronal Evolution and Disruption

Flux cancellation, defined observationally as the mutual disappearance of magnetic fields of opposite polarity at the neutral line separating them, has been found to occur frequently at the site of filaments (called prominences when observed on the limb of the Sun). During the second year of this project, we have studied theoretically the role that flux cancellation may play in prominence formation, prominence eruption, and the initiation of coronal mass ejections. This work has been in published in two papers: "Magnetic Field Topology in Prominences" by Lionello, Mikic, Linker, and Amari and "Flux Cancellation and Coronal Mass Ejections" by Linker, Mikic, Riley, Lionello, Amari, and Odstrcil.