The parker magnetostatic theorem

Abstract

We demonstrate the Parker Magnetostatic Theorem in terms of a small neighborhood in solution space containing continuous force-free magnetic fields in small deviations from the uniform field. These fields are embedded in a perfectly conducting fluid bounded by a pair of rigid plates where each field is anchored, taking the plates perpendicular to the uniform field. Those force-free fields obtainable from the uniform field by continuous magnetic footpoint displacements at the plates have field topologies that are shown to be a restricted subset of the field topologies similarly created without imposing the force-free equilibrium condition. The theorem then follows from the deduction that a continuous nonequilibrium field with a topology not in that subset must find a force-free state containing tangential discontinuities. © 2010. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.