Magnetic Helicity Conservation

Abstract

AbstractMagnetic Helicity measures basic structural properties of magnetic fields such as twist, shear, linking, writhe, and handedness. It is conserved in ideal MHD and approximately conserved during reconnection. The minimum energy state of a field with a given magnetic helicity is a linear force free field. Helicity plays an important role in MHD turbulence and dynamo theory, and provides a valuable observational tool in solar and space physics. Helicity conservation can be tracked from the solar dynamo to active regions to coronal mass ejections to magnetic clouds in interplanetary space.