Field topologies in ideal and near ideal magnetohydrodynamics and vortex dynamics

Abstract

Magnetic field topology frozen in ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and its breakage in near ideal MHD are reviewed in two parts. The first part gives a physically complete description of the frozen in field topology, taking magnetic flux conservation as fundamental and treating four topics, Eulerian and Lagrangian descriptions of MHD, Chandrasekhar-Kendall and Euler-potential field representations, magnetic helicity, and inviscid vortex dynamics in comparison to ideal MHD. A corollary clarifies the challenge of achieving a high degree of the frozen in condition in numerical MHD. The second part treats field topology breakage centered on the Parker Magnetostatic Theorem on a general incompatibility of a continuous magnetic field with the dual demand of force free equilibrium and an arbitrarily prescribed, 3D field topology. Preserving field topology as a global constraint readily results in formation of tangential magnetic discontinuities, i.e., electric current sheets of zero thickness. A similar incompatibility is present in the steady, force and thermal balance of a heated radiating fluid subject to an anisotropic thermal flux conducted strictly along the frozen in magnetic field in the low beta limit. In a weakly resistive fluid the thinning of current sheets by these incompatibilities inevitably results in sheet dissipation, resistive heating and topological changes in the field despite the small resistivity. Faraday induction drives but also macroscopically limits this mode of energy dissipation, storing free energy in self organized, ideal MHD structures. This property of MHD turbulence captured by the Taylor hypothesis is reviewed in relation to the Sun's corona, calling for a basic quantitative description of the breakdown of flux conservation in the low resistivity limit. A cylindrical, initial boundary value problem provides specificity in the review.

Review article, 20 pages, 2 figures, 158 references. see http://download.hao.ucar.edu/pub/low/Low_Sci_China-Phys_Mech_Astron_2015_58-015201.pdf

References in corpus (8)

• Fine strand-like structure in the solar corona from MHD transverse oscillations
• Magnetic Field Confinement in the Corona: The Role of Magnetic Helicity Accumulation
• Deciphering Solar Magnetic Activity I: On The Relationship Between The Sunspot Cycle And The Evolution Of Small Magnetic Features
• On the Relationship Between a Hot-channel-like Solar Magnetic Flux Rope and its embedded Prominence
• The Dynamics of Funnel Prominences
• Numerical simulations of possible finite time singularities in the incompressible Euler equations: comparison of numerical methods
• The dependence of the helicity bound of force-free magnetic fields on boundary conditions
• Do Potential Fields Develop Current Sheets Under Simple Compression or Expansion?

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Reconstruction of Coronal Magnetic Fields Using a Poloidal-Toroidal Representation