Effects of flows on viscous and resistive MHD stability

In many solar applications the viscosity appears to be more important than resistivity. In order to discuss the instabilities in solar conditions, an idealized configuration is considered in which the plasma is flowing in the z-direction along the magnetic field B sub 0 with a velocity V sub 0. As far as the velocity is concerned two different velocity profiles, with different hydrodynmaic stability properties are discussed. The results are summarized

Plasmoid Formation and Acceleration in the Solar Streamer Belt

The dynamical behavior of a configuration consisting of a plane fluid wake flowing in a current sheet embedded in a plasma sheet that is denser than its surroundings is discussed. This configuration is a useful model for a number of structures of astrophysical interest, such as solar coronal streamers, cometary tails, the Earth's magnetotail and Galactic center nonthermal filaments. In this paper, the results are applied to the study of the formation and initial motion of the plasma density enhancements observed by the Large-Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) instrument onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. It is found that beyond the helmet cusp of a coronal streamer, the magnetized wake configuration is resistively unstable, that a traveling magnetic island develops at the center of the streamer, and that density enhancements occur within the magnetic islands. As the massive magnetic island travels outward, both its speed and width increase. The island passively traces the acceleration of the inner part of the wake. The values of the acceleration and density contrasts are in good agreement with LASCO observations

Microscale Structures on the Quiet Sun and Coronal Heating

We present some results concerning transient brightenings on the quiet Sun, based on data from the Extreme-Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. Histograms of intensity are found to be well fitted by χ2 distributions for small values of the intensity, while at high intensities power-law distributions are always observed. Also, the emission presents the same statistical properties when the resolution is downgraded by local averaging; i.e., it appears to be self-similar down to the resolution scale of the instruments. These properties are characteristic of the emission from a forced turbulent system whose dissipation scale is much smaller than the pixel dimension. On the basis of the data presented as well as other published results and our present theoretical understanding of MHD turbulence, we discuss the realism of the nanoflare scenario of coronal heating

Modeling the Galactic Center Nonthermal Filaments as Magnetized Wake

We simulate the Galactic Center nonthermal filaments as magnetized wakes formed dynamically from amplification of a weak (tens of $\mu$G) global magnetic field through the interaction of molecular clouds with a Galactic Center wind. One of the key issues in this cometary model is the stability of the filament against dynamical disruption. Here we show 2-dimensional MHD simulations for interstellar conditions that are appropriate for the Galactic Center. The structures eventually disrupt through a shear driven nonlinear instability but maintain coherence for lengths up to 100 times their width as observed. The final instability, which destroys the filament through shredding and plasmoid formation, grows quickly in space (and time) and leads to an abrupt end to the structure, in accord with observations. As a by-product, the simulation shows that emission should peak well downstream from the cloud-wind interaction site.Comment: postscript file, 7 figs (included); Accepted for publication in ApJ (Part 1

Modeling the Galactic Center Nonthermal Filaments as Magnetized Wakes

We simulate the Galactic Center nonthermal filaments as magnetized wakes formed dynamically from amplification of a weak (tens of µG) global magnetic field through the interaction of molecular clouds with a Galactic Center wind. One of the key issues in this cometary model is the stability of the filament against dynamical disruption. Here we show 2-dimensional MHD simulations for interstellar conditions that are appropriate for the Galactic Center. The structures eventually disrupt through a shear driven nonlinear instability but maintain coherence for lengths up to 100 times their width as observed. The final instability, which destroys the filament through shredding and plasmoid–2– formation, grows quickly in space (and time) and leads to an abrupt end to the structure, in accord with observations. As a by-product, the simulation shows that emission should peak well downstream from the cloud-wind interaction site. Subject headings: Galaxy:Center — nonthermal emission 1