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Magnetic Helicity

Magnetic Helicity is a global quantity defined as in some volume, where A is the magnetic vector potential and B is the magnetic field. Note:

It can be thought of as representing how much the magnetic field curls around itself, and describes the extent to which the magnetic field lines are linked, knotted, and twisted.

Helicity seems to play a large role in the process of reconnection, affecting parameters such as:

  1. The shape of the diffusion region
  2. The reconnection rate


Riley William Crane
Mon Oct 12 02:34:20 CDT 1998