Abstract
The evolution of the solar corona is dominated to a large extent by the hugely complicated magnetic field which threads it. Magnetic topology provides a tool to decipher the structure of this field and thus help to understand its behaviour. Usually, the magnetic topology of a potential field is calculated due to flux sources on a locally planar photospheric surface. We use a Green's function method to extend this theory to sources on a global spherical surface. The case of two bipolar flux-balanced source regions is studied in detail, with an emphasis on how the distribution and relative strengths of the source regions affect the resulting topological states. A new state with two spatially distinct separators connecting the same two magnetic null points, called the “dual intersecting“ state, is discovered.
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An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11207-006-9002-2.
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Maclean, R.C., Hornig, G., Priest, E.R. et al. Coronal Magnetic Topologies in a Spherical Geometry I. Two Bipolar Flux Sources. Sol Phys 235, 259–280 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-006-0015-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-006-0015-7