Authors: Spiro K. Antiochos
Affiliation: Naval Research Laboratory
The Sun's magnetic field is the primary agent driving solar activity and dynamically coupling the corona to the heliosphere. Although the details of this coupling depend on the exact properties of the field, for example the speed of a particular CME will depend on the quantitative distribution and magnitude of the photospheric flux, many important aspects of the coronal-heliospheric connection can be understood by considering simply the topology of the magnetic field. We show how the magnetic topology determines the basic nature of both the slowly-evolving, global-scale coupling as manifested by coronal holes, and the small-scale, transient coupling as manifested by CMEs. We derive several general theorems which constrain how the coronal field can open into the heliosphere. We also discuss the implications of our results for LWS and, in particular, for the SDO mission.