Bc. Low et Jr. Hundhausen, MAGNETOSTATIC STRUCTURES OF THE SOLAR CORONA .2. THE MAGNETIC TOPOLOGY OF QUIESCENT PROMINENCES, The Astrophysical journal, 443(2), 1995, pp. 818-836
This paper treats the magnetic properties of the quiescent prominence
as a part of the larger coronal structure made up of the prominence, c
avity, and helmet dome. A rigorous analysis of the mechanical support
of a vertical prominence sheet suspended in equilibrium by magnetic fi
elds in uniform gravity shows that the finite vertical extension of th
e prominence sheet has an important dynamic constraint. For the invers
e topology with the prominence magnetic field pointing opposite to the
held implied by the bipolar photospheric region below, this constrain
t requires the prominence sheet to be embedded in a horizontal, nearly
force-free, magnetic flux rope which crucially supports a part of the
prominence weight by current attraction from above. A similar analysi
s of the support problem is carried out for the prominence in the norm
al topology in which both prominence and photospheric magnetic fields
point in the same sense. Starting with the observation that most promi
nences are of the inverse topology, a recent model is extended to show
that this topology implies that the prominence sits in a two-flux mag
netic system, one flux connecting the bipolar magnetic sources in the
photosphere below and the other forming a rope which embeds the promin
ence and runs above and parallel to the photospheric polarity-inversio
n line. This model physically relates several pieces of well-known but
hitherto disjoint observations. The prominence flux rope manifests it
self as the cavity in the corona and as the filament channel in the ch
romosphere. The chromospheric fibril patterns associated with prominen
ces and filament channels can, for the first time, be modeled faithful
ly. Several physical implications on the origin of the prominence and
questions deriving from the results are discussed.