THE MAGNETIC-FIELD OF SOLAR PROMINENCES

A model is presented which accounts for the formation of coronal magne tic field lines with the appropriate ''dipped'' structure to support p rominences. The critical ingredients of the model are that the promine nce magnetic field is a truly three-dimensional structure with signifi cant variation along the prominence length, and the magnetic field is strongly sheared near the photospheric neutral line. Numerical calcula tions are presented which demonstrate that these two features lead to dip formation. In addition our model is able to account for the long-p uzzling observation of inverse polarity in quiescent prominences.