Abstract
The Sun's atmosphere contains many diverse phenomena that are dominated by the coronal magnetic field. To understand these phenomena it is helpful to determine first the structure of the magnetic field, i.e., the magnetic topology. We study here the topological structure of the coronal magnetic field arising from the interaction of two bipolar regions, for which we find that four distinct, topologically stable states are possible. A bifurcation diagram is produced, showing how the magnetic configuration can change from one topology to another as the relative orientation and sizes of the bipolar regions are varied. The changes are produced either by a global separator bifurcation, a local double-separator bifurcation, a new, global separatrix quasi-bifurcation, or a new, global spine quasi-bifurcation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aulanier, G., Démoulin, P., Schmieder, B., Fang, C., and Tang, Y.: 1998, Solar Phys. 183, 369.
Brown, D. S. and Priest, E. R.: 1999, Proc. R. Soc. London A455, 3931.
Brown, D. S. and Priest, E. R.: 2000, Solar Phys. 194, 197.
Brown, D. S. and Priest, E. R.: 2001, Astron. Astrophys. 367, 339.
Cowley, S. W. H.: 1973, Radio Science 8, 903.
Fletcher, L., Metcalf, T. R., Alexander, D., Ryder, L. A., Brown, D. S., and Nightingale, R. W.: 2001, Astrophys. J. 554, 451.
Galsgaard, K. and Nordlund, Å: 1997, J. Geophys. Res 102, 231.
Galsgaard, K., Parnell, C. E., and Blaizot, J.: 2000, Astron. Astrophys. 362, 383.
Gorbachev, V. S., Kel'ner, S. R., Somov, B. V., and Shverts, A. S.: 1988, Soviet Astron. 32, 308.
Inverarity, G. and Priest, E. R.: 1999, Solar Phys. 186, 99.
Molodenskii, M. M. and Syrovatskii, S. I.: 1977, Soviet Astron. 21, 734.
Lau, Y. T.: 1993, Solar Phys. 148, 301.
Lau, Y. T. and Finn, J. M.: 1990, Astrophys. J. 350, 672.
Lau, Y. T. and Finn, J. M.: 1991, Astrophys. J. 366, 577.
Longcope, D. W.: 1996, Solar Phys. 169, 91.
Parnell, C. E., Smith, J. M, Neukirch, T., and Priest, E. R.: 1996, Phys. Plasmas 3, 759.
Priest, E. R. and Titov, V. S.: 1996, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. London A354, 2951.
Priest, E. R., Bungey, T. N., and Titov, V. S.: 1997, Geophys. Astrophys. Fluid Dynamics 84, 127.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Beveridge, C., Priest, E. & Brown, D. Magnetic topologies due to two bipolar regions. Solar Physics 209, 333–347 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021210127598
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021210127598