This project aims to understand the accumulation of free energy in the solar corona, the destabilization of energized magnetic field, and the rapid release of free energy in flares and mass ejections. Coronal magnetic energy ultimately arises from kinetic energy of the convection zone, but the controversy is whether the magnetic fields already carry free energy when they erupt from the photosphere to form active regions, free energy propagates into the corona from the deep convection zone, or the fields are stressed by motions of their photospheric footprints after eruption. The investigators will examine the propagation of twist along a nonuniform flux tube. In particular, they will determine the growth rate and characteristics of the kink instability in a horizontal flux tube lying above the photosphere. In addition, they will investigate the release of magnetic energy subsequent to the formation of current sheets.
