Solar Physics Division Meeting 2000, June 19-22
Session 1. Helioseismology, Magnetic Fields, Chromosphere and Transition Region
Display, Chair: C. U. Keller, Monday-Thursday, June 19, 2000, 8:00am-6:00pm, Forum Ballroom

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[1.47] Are Dipped Field Lines Required for Prominence Formation?

J.T. Karpen, S.K. Antiochos (NRL), P.J. MacNeice (Drexel U.)

Previous studies of prominence formation have been focussed exclusively on flux systems with dipped geometries (e.g., Antiochos and Klimchuk 1991; Antiochos et al. 1999), under the assumption that long-lived prominences must contain locations where the cool, dense plasma can be collected and suspended well above the photosphere. Within one such configuration, localized asymmetric heating at the base of long dipped field lines has been shown to yield a continual cycle of formation, motion, and destruction of cool, dense plasma (Antiochos, MacNeice, and Spicer 2000), thus reproducing the counterstreaming flows recently observed along prominence ``spines" (Zirker, Engvold, and Martin 1998). In view of this discovery of the dynamical nature of prominences, however, we speculate that the presence of dips may not be necessary. Rather, thermal non-equilibrium in flux tubes with flat or modestly peaked topologies might be able to produce the same cycle of condensation and destruction that occurs along dipped field lines. We have tested this hypothesis by performing a series of 1D hydrodynamic simulations with ARGOS, an adaptively refined high-order Godunov solver (see Antiochos et al. 1999). The results, comparison with observations, and their implications for prominence formation and lifecycle will be discussed.

This work has been supported in part by NASA and ONR.


The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: judy.karpen@nrl.navy.mil

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