The helicial flux rope structure of solar filaments Original Research Article

According to J. B. Taylorʹs relaxation theory for magnetized plasmas, helical flux ropes should be the fundamental building blocks of magnetism in the solar atmosphere. Although flux ropes are clearly ejected from the Sun, there has been some controversy about whether they exist in the sunʹs atmosphere before ejection. The issue is important because of the need to understand how eruptions are initiated. A clearer picture of solar flux ropes is emerging with recent high-resolution observations of solar filaments. Their twist and writhe are frequently detectable. This report describes some examples of filaments that suddenly writhe (kink) and do not escape the sun. The observations of November 1, 2001 and May 27, 2002 both appear to show the sudden eruption of a filament with probable transformation of some internal twist into a writhe of approx. + 1. Also described is one event in which a well observed filament did erupt. It is associated with a magnetic flux rope detected with the NEAR spacecraft magnetometer.