Metastable Magnetic Configurations and Their Significance for Solar Eruptive Events

The argument of the paper is that an instability may happen in which the pre-flare state, with two flux systems, can have a higher energy than the post-flare state in which one of them has partially erupted. Note that this does not imply a violation of the Aly-Sturrock theorem. The calculation makes use of a Gold-Hoyle flux rope. The Archivist is suspicious of this graphic because it shows, in a cartoonish sort of way, that the current penetrating the photosphere has suddenly dropped to zero during the instability. This should really be a no-no, shouldn't it? The twist cannot disappear rapidly into the solar interior because of the low Alfven speed there. Moreover, the twist looks like the same at each footpoint, a coincidence that seems doubly improbable.