Magnetic zones of Mars: Deformation‐controlled origin of magnetic anomalies

Abstract— Intense magnetic anomalies over Martian surface suggest preservation of large volumes of very old crust (>3 Gyr) that formed in the presence of a global magnetic field. The global distribution of the magnetic intensities observed above the Martian crust suggests a division into three zones. Zone 1 is where the magnetic signature is negligible or of relatively low intensity at Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) satellite mapping altitude (400 km). Zone 2 is the region of intermediate crustal magnetic amplitudes and zone 3 is where the highest magnetic intensities are measured. Crater demagnetization near zone 3 reveals the presence of rocks with both high magnetic intensity and coercivity. Magnetic analyses of terrestrial rocks show that compositional banding in orogenic zones significantly enhances both magnetic coercivity and thermal remanent magnetization (TRM) efficiency. Such enhancement offers a novel explanation for the anomalously large intensities inferred of magnetic sources on Mars. We propose that both large magnetic coercivity and intensity near the South Pole is indicative of the presence of a large degree of deformation. Associated compositional zoning creates conditions for large scale magnetic anisotropy allowing magnetic minerals to acquire magnetization more efficiently, thereby causing the distinct magnetic signatures in zone 3, expressed by intense magnetic anomalies. We use a simple model to verify the magnetic enhancement. We hypothesize that magnetically enhanced zone would reside over the down welling plume at the time of magnetization acquisition.     

The Topological Behaviour of Stable Magnetic Separators

It is important to understand the complex topology of the magnetic field in the solar corona in order to be able to comprehend the mechanisms which give rise to phenomena such as coronal loop structures and x-ray bright points. A key feature of the magnetic topology is a separator. A magnetic separator is a field line which connects two magnetic null points, places where the magnetic field becomes zero. A stable magnetic separator is important as it is the intersection of two separatrix surfaces. These surfaces divide the magnetic field lines into regions of different connectivity, so a separator usually borders four regions of field-line connectivity. This work examines the topological behaviour of separators that appear in a magnetic field produced by a system of magnetic sources lying in a plane (the photosphere). The questions of how separators arise and are destroyed, the topological conditions for which they exist, how they interact and their relevance to the coronal magnetic field are addressed.     

Non-isothermal atmosphere,solar wind,shearing and pressing magnetic field and preflare loops

Using a finite elements method, the magnetohydrostatic equation in a non-isothermal atmosphere is solved. The result is similar to the case in an isothermal atmosphere (Su, 1985). It is found that at some critical amount of shearing a magnetic island is formed and then breaks out to form an open magnetic configuration in which tearing-mode instability may occur. As the gradient of longitudinal magnetic field at some lower solar corona level increases, shearing loops containing strong currents are formed and the critical magnetic shearing parameter at which the magnetic island occurs, gets larger. In such a case, a lot of magnetic free energy is not easily released. It may be accumulated in a small volume above the polarity inversion line. As magnetic shearing increases, the magnetic free energy gets larger, until the magnetic shearing parameter reaches a higher critical value, a sudden change in magnetic configuration occurs. Such conditions may lead to high-energy solar eruptive phenomenon.     

Dissipation in dynamos at low and high magnetic Prandtl numbers

Using simulations of helically driven turbulence, it is shown that the ratio of kinetic to magnetic energy dissipation scales with the magnetic Prandtl number in power law fashion with an exponent of approximately 0.6. Over six orders of magnitude in the magnetic Prandtl number the magnetic field is found tobe sustained by large‐scale dynamo action of alphasquared type. This work extends a similar finding for small magnetic Prandtl numbers to the regime of large magnetic Prandtl numbers. At large magnetic Prandtl numbers, most of the energy is dissipated viscously, lowering thus the amount of magnetic energy dissipation, which means that simulations can be performed at magnetic Reynolds numbers that are large compared to the usual limits imposed by a given resolution. This is analogous to an earlier finding that at small magnetic Prandtl numbers, most of the energy is dissipated resistively, lowering the amount of kinetic energy dissipation, so simulations can then be performed at much larger fluid Reynolds numbers than otherwise. The decrease in magnetic energy dissipation at large magnetic Prandtl numbers is discussed in the context of underluminous accretion found in some quasars (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

行星际磁通量绳尺度及能量研究

行星际磁通量绳是太阳风中一种重要的磁结构.从1995-2001年的Wind卫星的观测资料中认证了144个行星际磁通量绳.其时间尺度介于几十分钟到几十小时之间,其空间尺度呈现连续分布.通过估算磁通量绳单位长度的能量和总能量发现:磁通量绳的能量分布和耀斑的类似都呈现很好的幂率谱.通过讨论行星际磁通量绳和太阳活动爆发的关系,建议所有的小、中、大尺度通量绳都直接起源于太阳上的爆发,和磁云对应于通常的日冕物质抛射一样,中、小尺度的通量绳对应相对较小的日冕物质抛射.     

Formation of Solar Delta Active Regions： Twist and Writhe of Magnetic Ropes

We analyze the process of formation of delta configuration in some well-known super active regions based on photospheric vector magnetogram observations. It is found that the magnetic field in the initial developing stage of some delta active regions shows a potential-like configuration in the solar atmosphere, the magnetic shear develops mainly near the magnetic neutral line with magnetic islands of opposite polarities, and the large-scale photospheric twisted field forming gradually later. Some results are obtained: (1) The analysis of magnetic writhe of whole active regions cannot be limited in the strong field of sunspots, because the contribution of the fraction of decayed magnetic field is non-negligible. (2) The magnetic model of kink magnetic ropes, supposed to be generated in the subatmosphere, is not consistent with the evolution of large-scale twisted photospheric transverse magnetic field and not entirely consistent with the relationship with magnetic shear in some delta active regions. (3) T     

Formation of the plasma mantle in the Venusian magnetosphere

A model of the interaction of the solar wind with Venus is proposed including magnetic barrier formation, ionopause structure, plasma dynamics in the magnetic barrier, and the formation of the Venusian tail (wake). It is shown that under stationary conditions the ionopause is practically an equipotential boundary and its current is determined by a diamagnetic drift. The source of the plasma mantle can be provided by photoions appearing in the magnetic barrier and convecting toward the wake as a result of both magnetic pressure gradient and magnetic tension. The formation of the magnetic tail is determined by convection of magnetic barrier flux tubes in which the solar-wind plasma is replaced by ions of planetary origin. Compared to observational data the proposed model gives somewhat overestimated values of ion convective velocity and magnetic barrier thickness near the terminator and underestimated values of number density and magnetic field strength in the tail. Accordingly this suggests the possible influence of the anomalous ionization effects in the solar wind—Venus interaction.     

How To Use Magnetic Field Information For Coronal Loop Identification

The structure of the solar corona is dominated by the magnetic field because the magnetic pressure is about four orders of magnitude higher than the plasma pressure. Due to the high conductivity the emitting coronal plasma (visible, e.g., in SOHO/EIT) outlines the magnetic field lines. The gradient of the emitting plasma structures is significantly lower parallel to the magnetic field lines than in the perpendicular direction. Consequently information regarding the coronal magnetic field can be used for the interpretation of coronal plasma structures. We extrapolate the coronal magnetic field from photospheric magnetic field measurements into the corona. The extrapolation method depends on assumptions regarding coronal currents, e.g., potential fields (current-free) or force-free fields (current parallel to magnetic field). As a next step we project the reconstructed 3D magnetic field lines on an EIT-image and compare with the emitting plasma structures. Coronal loops are identified as closed magnetic field lines with a high emissivity in EIT and a small gradient of the emissivity along the magnetic field.     

EVOLUTION OF MAGNETIC HELICITY IN MAGNETIC RECONNECTION

This paper presents a definition of magnetic helicity specifically for two-dimensional magnetic fields and derives the associated helicity equation. The newly defined helicity is closely related to its three-dimensional counterpart and serves as a measure of the shear of magnetic field. Based on this, a numerical simulation is carried out on magnetic reconnection occurring in the lower solar atmosphere. It is found that the helicity dissipation due to magnetic reconnection is very small. A large amount of helicity is transferred upward and escapes from the domain of the solution, and the total helicity is approximately conserved during the magnetic reconnection and helicity transfer. This is in support of the applicability of a postulate, which was proposed by Taylor (1974, 1986) concerning the approximate conservation of magnetic helicity in the presence of resistive dissipation and magnetic reconnection in a highly conductive laboratory plasma, to the solar atmosphere.     

Influence of a dipole magnetic field on the topology of toroidal magnetic configurations around a gravitating body

The topological structure of the toroidal magnetic field, which is affected by a dipole magnetic field, is studied. It is shown, that a dipole magnetic field is able to split the initial toroidal configuration into two toroids and, at a certain critical value of the magnetic dipole, can completely destroy the toroidal configuration. The dependence of the total mass excess on the dipole magnetic field is found.     

磁对消引起的日珥扰动

采用二维三分量理想磁流体力学模型,研究光球磁对消引起的日珥扰动．日珥下方光球表面的磁对消将磁通量向日珥传输,引起日珥内部磁通量和磁螺度增加．日珥的状态与所积累的磁通量（或磁螺度）有关．数值结果显示,如果日珥磁通的相对增量δＦ（或相应的磁螺度相对增量δＨ）较小,日珥只略微上升和膨胀,并不离开光球;而对于较大的δＦ或δＨ）;日珥将脱离光球,悬浮在低层日冕中,在其下方形成垂直电流片．     

Catastrophe of coronal magnetic flux ropes in partially open magnetic fields

Using a 2.5-D, time-dependent ideal MHD model in Cartesian coordinates, a numerical study is carried out to find equilibrium solutions associated with a magnetic flux rope in the corona. The ambient magnetic field is partially open, consisting of a closed arcade in the center and an open field at the flank. The coronal magnetic flux rope is characterized by its magnetic properties, including the axial and annular magnetic fluxes and the magnetic helicity, and its geometrical features, including the height of the rope axis, the halfwidth of the rope and the length of the vertical current sheet below the rope. It is shown that for a given partially open ambient magnetic field, the dependence of the geometrical features on the magnetic properties displays a catastrophic behavior, namely, there exists a certain critical point, across which an infinitesimal enhancement of the magnetic parameters causes a finite jump of the geometrical parameters for the rope. The amplitude of the jump depends on the extent to which the ambient magnetic field in open, and approaches to zero when the ambient magnetic field becomes completely closed. The implication of such a catastrophe in solar active phenomena is briefly discussed.     

A Statistical Study on the Reconnection in Boundary Layers of Small-scale Magnetic Flux Tubes in Solar Winds

With the data from WIND satellite in 1995—2005, the small-scale magnetic ?ux tubes determined with two methods, i.e., the arti?cial recognition and program selection respectively, are compared. It is found that there are magnetic reconnections in the boundary layers of 41% small-scale magnetic ?ux tubes determined with the program selection method, which is similar to the re- sult of small-scale magnetic ?ux tubes determined with the method of arti?cial recognition. The features of magnetic reconnections, such as the magnetic shear angle, magnetic ?eld strength, and duration of the dissipation region of recon- nection at the small-scale ?ux tubes’ boundaries determined from both methods have the same statistical tendency. This shows that there is no essential differ- ence in the properties of reconnections in the boundary layers of the small-scale magnetic ?ux tubes determined with the two methods. Hence the data yielded by both methods can be used as the samples for statistically studying the events of reconnection in the front and back boundary layers of small-scale ?ux ropes. There are totally 71 magnetic reconnection events selected in this paper. Our statistical result shows that in 50 events (70%) the decrease of magnetic ?eld strength in the dissipation region of reconnection is larger than 20%, and in 47 events (66%) the magnetic shear angle is larger than 90 degrees. These indicate that the magnetic reconnections in boundaries of the small-scale magnetic ?ux tubes are more likely to be anti-parallel. The statistics has been performed sep- arately in the reconnections of the front and back boundary layers of small-scale magnetic ?ux tubes. The results show that the features of reconnections in the front and back boundaries are similar to each other, which is different from the various properties in the front and back boundaries of the magnetic clouds, and this means that the expansion in the large-scale magnetic ?ux tubes, such as magnetic clouds, does not happen in the small-scale magnetic ?ux tubes.     

Structure of the magnetic field near the galactic plane

A method is introduced for constructing two-color maps for the in-plane component of the magnetic field of our galaxy in (R, l) and (DM, l) coordinates. It is shown that, in agreement with the standard models of the galactic magnetic field, the magnetic field in neighboring spiral arms reverses direction. However, the magnetic field in the spiral arm of Sagittarius differs significantly from the standard magnetic field model, with the major difference being that the magnetic fields in the southern and northern hemispheres are oppositely directed in the spiral arm of Sagittarius. It is proposed that this distribution of the magnetic field can be explained best by assuming that the spiral arm of Sagittarius, or, at least, a magnetic spiral arm in that region, is not symmetric with respect to the galactic plane and lies mainly in the northern hemisphere.     

Solar wind,non-force-free magnetic field and two-ribbon flares

With the assumption that the magnetic field lines are radial at some quite high level in the solar corona, a non-constant shearing magnetic field is introduced into the magnetohydrostatic equations. It is found that a same critical amount of shearing a magnetic island is formed and then breaks out to form an open magnetic configuration in which resistive tearing-mode instability may occur, and may initiate a two-ribbon flare. In addition, high shearing magnetic fields are investigated. It is shown that high shearing magnetic configurations are weak two-dimensional neutral sheets, the instability of which has been studied by Janicke (1982).     

Catastrophe of coronal magnetic rope in partly open multipolar magnetic field

Catastrophe of coronal magnetic rope embedded in a partly open multipolar background magnetic field is studied by using a 2-dimensional, 3-component ideal MHD model in spherical coordinates. The background field is composed of three closed bipolar fields of a coronal streamer and an open field with an equatorial current sheet. The magnetic rope lies below the central bipolar field, and it is characterized by its annular and axial magnetic fluxes. For a given annual flux, there is a critical value of the axial flux, and for a given axial flux, there is a critical value of annual flux such that, below the critical value, the magnetic rope is attached to the solar surface and the system stays in equilibrium, but when the critical value is exceeded, the magnetic rope breaks free and erupts upward. This implies that catastrophe can occur in a coronal magnetic rope embedded in a partly open multipolar background magnetic field. Our computation gives a threshold value of magnetic energy that is about 15% greater than the energy of the partly open magnetic field (the central bipolar field open and the fields on either side closed). The excess energy may serve as source for solar explosions such as coronal mass ejections.     

Magnetic reconnection and energy release in the solar corona by Taylor relaxation

The heating of the solar corona by resistive turbulence of coronal magnetic fields is considered. The theory of this process, based on the Taylor-Heyvaerts-Priest hypothesis and a magnetic relaxation equation, is developed. Such an approach allows one to obtain the successive magnetic reconnection configurations and energy balance of the coronal magnetic field in response to prescribed motions of the photospheric footpoints. Two specific models of the coronal magnetic configuration are investigated, namely an array of closely packed flux tubes and a two-dimensional magnetic arcade.     

Turbulent effects of sunspot magnetic field reconstruction

We study the effects of two-dimensional turbulence generated in sunspot umbra due to strong magnetic fields and Alfven oscillations excited in sunspots due to relatively weak magnetic fields on the evolution of sunspots. Two phases of sunspot magnetic field decaying are shown to exist. The initial rapid phase of magnetic field dissipation is due to two-dimensional turbulence. The subsequent slow phase of magnetic field decaying is associated with Alfven oscillations. Our results correspond to observed data that provide evidence for two types of sunspot evolution. The effect of macroscopic diamagnetic expulsion of magnetic field from the convective zone or photosphere toward sunspots is essential in supporting the long-term stability and equilibrium of vertical magnetic flux tubes in sunspots.     

The spontaneous magnetic field direction in an anisotropic MHD dynamo

The phenomenon of magnetic field generation in an astrophysical plasma in the frame of developed magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence is considered. The functional quantum field renormalization group approach is applied to helical anisotropic MHD developed turbulence which is stabilized by the self-generated homogeneous magnetic field. The purpose of the study is to calculate the value as well as direction of the magnetic field in the stochastic dynamo model. The generated magnetic field is determined by ignoring divergent rotor part of Green function of the magnetic field. It is shown that the magnetic field direction is connected with unique existing vector n describing the anisotropic turbulence forcing.