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S. K. Antiochos, C. R. DeVore, J. A. Klimchuk (NRL)
With the advent of new high-spatial and high-temporal resolution observations from SOHO and TRACE, prominences/filaments have once again become a major focus of study for solar physics. Prominences/filaments are also important for their role in space weather. They yield key information on the type of magnetic structure that leads to eruptive flares and coronal mass ejections.
We present results from our calculations of the 3D magnetic structure of prominences and the origin of the prominence mass. We show that many of the well-know features of their global structure, such as the prominence legs and barbs, the inverse polarity, and the sinistral-dextral property, can be easily understood as due to the geometry of a sheared bipolar field. Both fully time-dependent 3D MHD simulations and 3D force-free field equilibrium calculations demonstrate this conclusion. Furthermore, we discuss results showing that the magnetic structure of a sheared 3D bipole leads naturally to the formation of cool condensations and to their observed motions.
* This work is supported by NASA and ONR.
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