Stochastic Aspects of Magnetic Lines of Force with Application to Cosmic-Ray Propagation
Jokipii, J. R. and E. N. Parker, Stochastic Aspects of Magnetic Lines of Force with Application to Cosmic-Ray Propagation, ApJ, 155, 777 (1969) (ADS)
(click on the image for a larger version)
Here is a cartoon with historical signficance.
"Braiding" signifies the suggested behavior of the solar magnetic flux
that connects the photosphere and the corona, and the cartoons
in this pioneering paper showed how it "field lines" might entangle
as the photopheric convective motions drags them about.
The solar wind is shown in this cartoon flowing up, away from the Sun;
in it there would be "solar cosmic rays" trying to find their way around the
heliosphere (or Galactic cosmic rays).
The braiding would help to explain their transport, which includes apparently
cross-field motions.
This is all well and good, but should we talk about field lines, or about
flux tubes that contain finite amounts of flux and which have clear boundaries?
The Borovsky cartoon
illustrates this alternative viewpoint for the field in the solar wind.
Interestingly, one might naively expect that magnetic reconnection would
destroy the flux-tube identity in the solar wind, where plasma beta is greater,
but that may not the actual case.
Here is a cartoon with historical signficance. "Braiding" signifies the suggested behavior of the solar magnetic flux that connects the photosphere and the corona, and the cartoons in this pioneering paper showed how it "field lines" might entangle as the photopheric convective motions drags them about. The solar wind is shown in this cartoon flowing up, away from the Sun; in it there would be "solar cosmic rays" trying to find their way around the heliosphere (or Galactic cosmic rays). The braiding would help to explain their transport, which includes apparently cross-field motions.
This is all well and good, but should we talk about field lines, or about flux tubes that contain finite amounts of flux and which have clear boundaries? The Borovsky cartoon illustrates this alternative viewpoint for the field in the solar wind. Interestingly, one might naively expect that magnetic reconnection would destroy the flux-tube identity in the solar wind, where plasma beta is greater, but that may not the actual case.