Abstract
We present a 2-D potential-field model for the magnetic structure in the environment of a typical quiescent polar-crown prominence. The field is computed using the general method of Titov (1992) in which a curved current sheet, representing the prominence, is supported in equilibrium by upwardly directed Lorentz forces to balance the prominence weight. The mass density of the prominence sheet is computed in this solution using a simple force balance and observed values of the photospheric and prominence magnetic field. This calculation gives a mass density of the correct order of magnitude. The prominence sheet is surrounded by an inverse-polarity field configuration adjacent to a region of vertical, open polar field in agreement with observations.
A perturbation analysis provides a method for studying the evolution of the current sheet as the parameters of the system are varied together with an examination of the splitting of an X-type neutral point into a current sheet.
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Program Systems Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pereslavl-Zalessky 152140, Russia.
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Cartledge, N.P., Titov, V.S. & Priest, E.R. A 2-D model for the support of a polar-crown solar prominence. Sol Phys 166, 287–310 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00149400
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00149400