Authors: Graham Barnes, K.D. Leka, Dana Longcope
Affiliation: NorthWest Research Associates, Inc., Colorado Research Associates
Division; Montana State University
Magnetic Charge Topology (MCT) models represent the field in the solar corona
as being due to collection of point magnetic charges located at or below the
photosphere. These models have the advantage of providing a simple quantitative
description of the field topology. We apply MCT to a time series of magnetograms
from the U. Hawai`i/Mees Solar Observatory Imaging Vector Magnetograph (IVM)
for NOAA Active Region 8210. We first describe the evolution of the magnetic
topology of the region by calculating such quantities as the magnetic flux connecting
each pair of point sources, and the number and locations of magnetic separators,
which are likely to be the source of reconnection in the solar corona. Using
the changes in the magnitudes of the point sources, and in the connectivity
matrix, we estimate the rate at which flux is emerging and submerging through
the photosphere, and the rate at which reconnection is happening in the corona.
This work was performed under Air Force Office of Scientific Research contracts
F49620-03-C-0019 and F49620-02-C-0191.