scholarly journals Interplanetary flux ropes of any twist distribution

2019 ◽  
Vol 627 ◽  
pp. A90
Author(s):  
M. Vandas ◽  
E. P. Romashets

Context. Recent investigations indicate that the magnetic field configuration in interplanetary flux ropes is in contrast with the common magnetic field models that are used to fit them, namely constant-alpha force-free fields, whose twist increases without limits toward the flux-rope boundary. Therefore, magnetic field configurations with a constant twist are now being employed in fits. Aims. Real flux ropes have varying twist. Therefore, analytical magnetic field configurations with prescribed twist distributions are searched for in cylindrical geometry. Methods. Equations for the field solenoidality and for the force-free condition are solved for case when a twist profile is prescribed. Results. A model of a force-free magnetic field configuration with an arbitrarily given twist distribution in a cylinder and its relative helicity per unit length are presented. It is applied to a core-envelope model recently suggested in studies of twist in magnetic clouds.

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Hu ◽  
Wen He ◽  
Lingling Zhao ◽  
Edward Lu

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) represent one type of the major eruption from the Sun. Their interplanetary counterparts, the interplanetary CMEs (ICMEs), are the direct manifestations of these structures when they propagate into the heliosphere and encounter one or more observing spacecraft. The ICMEs generally exhibit a set of distinctive signatures from the in-situ spacecraft measurements. A particular subset of ICMEs, the so-called Magnetic Clouds (MCs), is more uniquely defined and has been studied for decades, based on in-situ magnetic field and plasma measurements. By utilizing the latest multiple spacecraft measurements and analysis tools, we report a detailed study of the internal magnetic field configuration of an MC event observed by both the Solar Orbiter (SO) and Wind spacecraft in the solar wind near the Sun-Earth line. Both two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) models are applied to reveal the flux rope configurations of the MC. Various geometrical as well as physical parameters are derived and found to be similar within error estimates for the two methods. These results quantitatively characterize the coherent MC flux rope structure crossed by the two spacecraft along different paths. The implication for the radial evolution of this MC event is also discussed.


2005 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 133-133
Author(s):  
M. Vandas ◽  
E. P. Romashets ◽  
S. Watari

AbstractMagnetic clouds are thought to be large flux ropes propagating through the heliosphere. Their twisted magnetic fields are mostly modeled by a constant-alpha force-free field in a circular cylindrical flux rope (the Lundquist solution). However, the interplanetary flux ropes are three dimensional objects. In reality they possibly have a curved shape and an oblate cross section. Recently we have found two force-free models of flux ropes which takes into account the mentioned features. These are (i) a constant-alpha force-free configuration in an elliptic flux rope (Vandas & Romashets 2003, A&A, 398, 801), and (ii) a non-constant-alpha force-free field in a toroid with arbitrary aspect ratio (Romashets & Vandas 2003, AIP Conf Ser. 679, 180). Two magnetic cloud observations were analyzed. The magnetic cloud of October 18-19, 1995 has been fitted by Lepping et al. (1997, JGR, 102, 14049) with use of the Lundquist solution. The cloud has a very flat magnetic field magnitude profile. We fitted it by the elliptic solution (i). The magnetic cloud of November 17-18, 1975 has been fitted by Marubashi (1997) with use of a toroidally adjusted Lundquist solution. The cloud has a large magnetic field vector rotation and a large magnetic field magnitude increase over the background level. We fitted it by the toroidal solution (ii). The both fits match the rotation of the magnetic field vector in a comparable quality to the former fits, but the description of the magnetic field magnitude profiles is remarkable better. It is possible to incorporate temporal effects (expansion) of magnetic clouds into the new solutions through a time-dependent alpha parameter as in Shimazu & Vandas (2002, EP&S, 54, 783).


2020 ◽  
Vol 635 ◽  
pp. A85 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Lanabere ◽  
S. Dasso ◽  
P. Démoulin ◽  
M. Janvier ◽  
L. Rodriguez ◽  
...  

Context. Magnetic clouds (MCs) are large-scale interplanetary transient structures in the heliosphere that travel from the Sun into the interplanetary medium. The internal magnetic field lines inside the MCs are twisted, forming a flux rope (FR). This magnetic field structuring is determined by its initial solar configuration, by the processes involved during its eruption from the Sun, and by the dynamical evolution during its interaction with the ambient solar wind. Aims. One of the most important properties of the magnetic structure inside MCs is the twist of the field lines forming the FR (the number of turns per unit length). The detailed internal distribution of twist is under debate mainly because the magnetic field (B) in MCs is observed only along the spacecraft trajectory, and thus it is necessary to complete observations with theoretical assumptions. Estimating the twist from the study of a single event is difficult because the field fluctuations significantly increase the noise of the observed B time series and thus the bias of the deduced twist. Methods. The superposed epoch applied to MCs has proven to be a powerful technique, permitting the extraction of their common features, and removing the peculiarity of individual cases. We apply a superposed epoch technique to analyse the magnetic components in the local FR frame of a significant sample of moderately asymmetric MCs observed at 1 au. Results. From the superposed profile of B components in the FR frame, we determine the typical twist distribution in MCs. The twist is nearly uniform in the FR core (central half part), and it increases moderately, up to a factor two, towards the MC boundaries. This profile is close to the Lundquist field model limited to the FR core where the axial field component is above about one-third of its central value.


1973 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. E. Nolting ◽  
P. E. Jindra ◽  
D. R. Wells

Detailed measurements of the trapped magnetic fields and currents in plasma structures generated by conical theta-pinches are reported. Studies of these structures interacting with a magnetic barrier, and with each other in a collision at the centre of a magnetic mirror, are reported. The magnetic well formed by the collision has been studied by simultaneous use of several diagnostic techniques. The measurements are in agreement with a force-free, collinear magnetic field configuration (Wells 1972). Arguments relating superposability and collinearity of flow fields to these observations are given.


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