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Researchers Explain Magnetic Field Misbehavior in Solar Flares

Wednesday, May 22, 2013 14:45

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When a solar flare filled with charged particles erupts from the sun, its magnetic fields sometime break a widely accepted rule of physics.

The flux-freezing theorem dictates that the magnetic lines of force should flow away in lock-step with the particles, whole and unbroken. Instead, the lines sometimes break apart and quickly reconnect in a way that has mystified astrophysicists.

Follow the link to watch the most powerful solar flare ever recorded

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUaeLbvsIyc

New research led by a Johns Hopkins mathematical physicist focuses on the “misbehavior” of magnetic fields in solar flares. In this image, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured an X1.2 class solar flare, peaking on May 15, 2013. Credit: NASA/SDO

But in a paper published in the May 23 issue of the journal Nature, an interdisciplinary research team led by a Johns Hopkins mathematical physicist says it has found a key to the mystery.

The culprit, the group proposed, is turbulence—the same

sort of violent disorder that can jostle a passenger jet when it occurs in the atmosphere.

Using complex computer modeling to mimic what happens to magnetic fields when they encounter turbulence within a solar flare, the researchers built their case, explaining why the usual rule did not apply.

“The flux-freezing theorem often explains things beautifully,” said Gregory Eyink, a Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics professor who was lead author of the Nature study. “But in other instances, it fails miserably. We wanted to figure out why this failure occurs.”

.iMACE: Credit: NASA/SDO

The flux-freezing theorem was developed 70 years ago by Hannes Alfvén, who later won a Nobel Prize in physics for closely related work.

His principle states that magnetic lines of force are carried along in a moving fluid like strands of thread cast into a river, and thus they can never “break” and reconnect.

But scientists have discovered that within violent solar flares, the principle does not always hold true. Studies of these flares have determined that their magnetic field lines sometimes do break like stretched rubber bands and reconnect in as little as 15 minutes, releasing vast amounts of energy that power the flare.

“But the flux-freezing principle of modern plasma physics implies that this process in the solar corona should take a million years!” Eyink said. “A big problem in astrophysics is that no one could explain why flux-freezing works in some cases but not others.”

More information: Flux-freezing breakdown in high-conductivity magnetohydrodynamic turbulence.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v497/n7450/full/nature12128.html

The turbulence data on which the analysis relies are publicly available at turbulence.pha.jhu.edu .

Journal reference: Nature

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