Prominence Formation

Prominences are manifestations of cold plasma suspended in the hot corona. The plasma is supported against the gravitational pool by the magnetic field. One of the open questions are how they are formed. Observations suggest that the convergence of flux elements across the filament channel may provide a tricker for the formation process. We ( Aaron Longbottom) have investigated a simple dynamical model of this scenario. A simple quadro polar field line structure is chosen as the initial condition and the flux patterns are followed moved towards each other. This eventually forces magnetic reconnection to take place between the field of the two nearest sources. The reconnection takes place above the driving photosphere and lifts material into the upper atmosphere where it spreads along the polarity inversion line. The experiments indicate that mass have to be continuously supplied to the prominence structure to maintain a high density contrasts to the ambient plasma. As the lift in the experiment occurs near adiabatic, it is found that the lifted plasma cools as it is lifted and adjusts to the pressure at the higher height.

Images -- Movies to be included

Papers

Are Prominences Formed by Flux Convergence ? (In the proceedings of IAU colloquium 167, New Perspectives on Solar Prominences, ASP Conference Series Vol 150)
Formation of Prominences by Flux Convergence ApJ, 510, 444, 1999.

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Last updated 12.06.00