Vlahos, Loukas, Theory of fragmented energy release in the Sun, Space Sci. Rev., 68, 39-50 (1994) (ADS)
(click on the image for a larger version)
An often-ignored but favorite cartoon, according to the author,
which antedated the TRACE rediscovery of the
"solar magnetic carpet".
The same cartoon appeared as the cover art for the book "Fragmentation
of energy release in the Sun and stars".
Here the black dots represent little scattering centers, while the
highly coordinated twists at the bottom reflect stresses on the field,
which rises as flux emerges.
"Topology" here in a zone without any may be puzzling, but it refers
to the connectivity of the assumed field lines.
Generally it seems like this kind of picture might describe some important
microphysics, though not really at the physics level, but that it does
not have much of a connection with the global structure of a flare event.
An often-ignored but favorite cartoon, according to the author, which antedated the TRACE rediscovery of the "solar magnetic carpet". The same cartoon appeared as the cover art for the book "Fragmentation of energy release in the Sun and stars". Here the black dots represent little scattering centers, while the highly coordinated twists at the bottom reflect stresses on the field, which rises as flux emerges. "Topology" here in a zone without any may be puzzling, but it refers to the connectivity of the assumed field lines. Generally it seems like this kind of picture might describe some important microphysics, though not really at the physics level, but that it does not have much of a connection with the global structure of a flare event.