The dynamics of a toroidal magnetic ring

✍ Scribed by Carl G. Lilliequist; Martin D. Altschuler; Yoshinari Nakagawa

• Book ID: 104648794
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1971
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 649 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0038-0938
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00159765

✦ Synopsis

Solving the nonlinear partial differential equations of magnetohydrodynamics numerically, we examine (1) the time development of a purely toroidal magnetic field (a magnetic ring) and (2) the interaction of a magnetic ring with a poloidal magnetic field. Axisymmetry and incompressibility are assumed. Parameters are chosen to correspond to photospheric conditions. In case (1), the magnetic ring contracts to the axis and then splits in two with one ring travelling up along the axis and the other down. In case (2), a large toroidal velocity field is generated which has opposite direction of flow above and below the magnetic ring. The magnetic and flow patterns of case (2) may persist with little change for a relatively long time. We conjecture that toroidal magnetic fields may be involved in the bright rings of sunspots or in the dynamics of spicules.