Tearing modes in solar coronal loops

Abstract

It is shown that solar coronal-like magnetic loops, that is loops emerging from and reentering heavy plasma, are unstable to tearing modes. In particular, the previously made assumption of line tying to the heavy plasma, resulting in stabilization, is shown to be inapplicable because the growth rate is sub-Alfvenic in the entire loop, including the submerged part. In fact, it is shown that the tearing mode may grow faster than ordinarily surmised because the growth rate is determined by the average resistivity along an entire flux line rather than by the resistivity in the corona alone.