Magnetohydrostatic equilibrium. I: Three-dimensional open magnetic flux tube in the stratified solar atmosphere

Gent, F. A. and Fedun, V. and Mumford, S. J. and Erdélyi, Róbert (2013) Magnetohydrostatic equilibrium. I: Three-dimensional open magnetic flux tube in the stratified solar atmosphere. MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, 435. pp. 689-697. ISSN 0035-8711

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Abstract

A single open magnetic flux tube spanning the solar photosphere (solar radius ' R ) and the lower corona (R + 10 Mm) is modelled in magnetohydrostatic equilibrium within a realistic stratified atmosphere subject to solar gravity. Such flux tubes are observed to remain relatively stable for up to a day or more, and it is our aim to apply the model as the background con- dition for numerical studies of energy transport mechanisms from the surface to the corona. We solve analytically an axially symmetric 3D structure for the model, with magnetic field strength, plasma density, pressure and temperature all consistent with observational and the- oretical estimates. The self similar construction ensures the magnetic field is divergence free. The equation of pressure balance for this particular set of flux tubes can be integrated analyti- cally to find the pressure and density corrections required to preserve the magnetohydrostatic equilibrium. The model includes a number of free parameters, which makes the solution appli- cable to a variety of other physical problems and it may therefore be of more general interest.

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