The rise of twisted magnetic flux tubes: A high Reynolds number adaptive grid calculation

The rise of buoyant magnetic flux tubes is a problem of some importance in the context of the escape of magnetic field from the solar interior. By employing an adaptive grid code, we have been able to study the evolution of tubes at Reynolds numbers (kinetic and magnetic) considerably in excess of any considered in previous studies. The rise of the tube is markedly asymmetric. It is qualitatively different from that obtained by previous low Reynolds number simulations or from that predicted by the simple ideas of the thin flux tube approximation.