Comparing magnetic field extrapolations with measurements of magnetic loops

Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Max-Planck-Straße 2, 37191 Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany e-mail: wiegelmann@linmpi.mpg.de

Received: 6 September 2004
Accepted: 2 December 2004

Abstract

We compare magnetic field extrapolations from a photospheric magnetogram with the observationally inferred structure of magnetic loops in a newly developed active region. This is the first time that the reconstructed 3D-topology of the magnetic field is available to test the extrapolations. We compare the observations with potential fields, linear force-free fields and non-linear force-free fields. This comparison reveals that a potential field extrapolation is not suitable for a reconstruction of the magnetic field in this young, developing active region. The inclusion of field-line-parallel electric currents, the so called force-free approach, gives much better results. Furthermore, a non-linear force-free computation reproduces the observations better than the linear force-free approximation, although no free parameters are available in the former case.