Pressure structure of solar coronal loops

Abstract

The steady state pressure structure of a coronal loop is discussed in terms of the MHD global invariants of an incompressible plasma. The steady state is represented by the superposition of two Chandrasekhar-Kendall functions corresponding to (n=m=0) and (n=m=1) modes. The relative contribution of the two modes (epsilon) is found to depend on the surface pressure of the coronal loop which is also the pressure of the external medium. The mixed mode state does not exist for high values of the external pressure because epsilon becomes complex.