Related papers: Topological Constraints on the Relaxation of Compl…
Magnetic field relaxation is determined by both the field's geometry and its topology. For relaxation processes, however, it turns out that its topology is a much more stringent constraint. As quantifier for the topology we use magnetic…
Stability and reconnection of magnetic fields play a fundamental role in natural and man-made plasma. In these applications the field's topology determines the stability of the magnetic field. Here I will describe the importance of one…
The energy of the stochastic magnetic field is bounded from below by a topological quantity expressing the degree of linkage of the field lines. When the bound is saturated one can assume that the storage of a certain magnetic energy…
Magnetic helicity is an invariant of ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) that encodes information on the topology of magnetic field lines. It has long been appreciated that magnetic topology is an important constraint for the evolution of…
Magnetic helicity is a conserved quantity of ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) that is related to the topology of the magnetic field, and is widely studied in both laboratory and astrophysical plasmas. When the magnetic field has a…
Astrophysical objects with negligible resistivity are often threaded by large scale magnetic fields. The generation of these fields is somewhat mysterious, since a magnetic field in a perfectly conducting fluid cannot change the flux…
We study the evolution of turbulent magnetic fields from a topological point of view, invoking commonplace mathematical tools from general topology and dynamical systems theory which connect magnetic field evolution to time reversal…
We investigate the evolution of field line helicity for magnetic fields that connect two boundaries without null points, with emphasis on localized finite-B magnetic reconnection. Total (relative) magnetic helicity is already recognized as…
Magnetic helicity is conserved under ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and quasi-conserved even under a resistive process. The standard definition for magnetic helicity cannot be applied directly to an open magnetic field in a volume,…
Magnetic helicity is a quantity that underpins many theories of magnetic relaxation in electrically conducting fluids, both laminar and turbulent. Although much theoretical effort has been expended on magnetic fields that are everywhere…
A topological constraint on the dynamics of a magnetic field in a flux tube arises from the fixed point indices of its field line mapping. This can explain unexpected behaviour in recent resistive-magnetohydrodynamic simulations of magnetic…
The dual symmetry between the electric and magnetic fields underlies Maxwell's electrodynamics. Due to this symmetry one can describe topological properties of an electromagnetic field in free space and obtain the conservation law of…
The final state of turbulent magnetic relaxation in a reversed field pinch is well explained by Taylor's hypothesis. However, recent resistive-magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the relaxation of braided solar coronal loops have led to…
Magnetic reconnection is a complex mechanism that converts magnetic energy into particle kinetic energy and plasma thermal energy in space and astrophysical plasmas. In addition, magnetic reconnection and turbulence appear to be intimately…
Astrophysical plasmas have the remarkable ability to preserve magnetic topology, which inevitably gives rise to the accumulation of magnetic energy within stressed regions including current sheets. This stored energy is often released…
Magnetic helicity is a fundamental quantity of magnetohydrodynamics that carries topological information about the magnetic field. By `topological information', we usually refer to the linkage of magnetic field lines. For domains that are…
Twisted magnetic flux ropes are reservoirs of free magnetic energy. In a highly-conducting plasma such as the solar corona, energy release through multiple magnetic reconnections can be modelled as a helicity-conserving relaxation to a…
We study the relaxation of a topologically non-trivial vortex braid with zero net helicity in a barotropic fluid. The aim is to investigate the extent to which the topology of the vorticity field -- characterized by braided vorticity field…
We revisit the issue of conservation of magnetic helicity and the Woltjer-Taylor relaxation theory in magnetohydrodynamics in the context of weak solutions. We introduce a relaxed system for the ideal MHD system, which decouples the effects…
Through a direct comparison between numerical simulations in two and three dimensions, we investigate topological effects in reconnection. A simple estimate on increase in reconnection rate in three dimensions by a factor of $\sqrt{2}$,…