CURRENT SHEET CONFIGURATIONS IN POTENTIAL AND FORCE-FREE FIELDS

Using complex variables and the method of conformal mappings, an analy tical expression is produced for the possible configurations of consta nt-current, force-free or magnetostatic magnetic fields in the neighbo urhood of a linear current sheet. The configurations obtained include the well-known potential solutions of Green (1965) and Syrovatskii (19 71) as special cases. New potential and force-free solutions possess a symmetry along the current sheet and a closing over of the field lines for the force-free case.