The Formation of a Cavity in a 3D Flux Rope

Abstract

There are currently no three dimensional numerical models which describe the magnetic and energetic formation of prominences self-consistently. Consequently, there has not been significant progress made in understanding the connection between the dense prominence plasma and the coronal cavity. We have taken an ad-hoc approach to understanding the energetic implications of the magnetic models of prominence structure. We extract one dimensional magnetic field lines from a 3D MHD model of a flux rope and solve for hydrostatic balance along these field lines incorporating field-aligned thermal conduction, uniform heating, and radiative losses. The 1D hydrostatic solutions for density and temperature are then mapped back into three dimensional space, which allows us to consider the projection of multiple structures. We find that the 3D flux rope is composed of several distinct field line types. A majority of the flux rope interior field lines are twisted but not dipped. These field lines are density-reduced relative to unsheared arcade field lines. We suggest the cavity may form along these short interior field lines which are surrounded by a sheath of dipped field lines. This geometric arrangement would create a cavity on top of a prominence, but the two structures would not share field lines or plasma.