FLUX EMERGENCE AND PROMINENCES: A NEW SCENARIO FOR 3-DIMENSIONAL FIELD GEOMETRY BASED ON OBSERVATIONS WITH THE ADVANCED STOKES POLARIMETER

Abstract

This paper presents an interpretation of the evolution of the vector magnetic field at the photosphere based on measurements of the advanced Stokes polarimeter, along with chromospheric Hα from the Lockheed instrument operating on La Palma and X-ray images of the corona from Yohkoh. These measurements are consistent with the emergence of a nearly closed magnetic structure from the solar interior into the corona. The highly non-potential field topology inferred from the data suggests that strong field-aligned currents exist in the emergent magnetic structure as it buoyantly rises through the photosphere. Material trapped in this closed structure is pulled upward to later condense into a prominence. By analogy of this small active region evolution with the observed properties of large quiescent prominences, we speculate that this process might also be operative on a much larger scale. A 3-dimensional magnetostatic model is presented which has many topological features in common with the observations.