Click on the image above for a larger .gif version, or get the .ps file (233 kB).
The little asterisks are meant to be X-points (or "islands of reconnection") to use the poetic touch; perhaps inspired by Xanadu. Was this a prediction of the SAD phenomenon, discovered only in 1999? If so, well done Jim!
I believe that this cartoon points us towards some seriously interesting problems. The SAD inflows - now observed much better with TRACE than SXT ever did - consist of voids included in a still slower downwards flow. See the TRACE movie for April 21, 2002, for reference. These flows resemble the proper CSHKP geometry, but not its numerical simulations. Furthermore the geometry is complicated, as hinted at by this cartoon. How do the separatrices evolve? What flux is transferring to where, and why?
29-may-2004
18-apr-2008