Other Examples of Interacting Fields

Abstract

In the previous chapters, we have seen numerous examples in which an outgoing wave of one polarity moves through a field of opposite polarity and causes a collapse of field lines followed by the formation of a neutral point and the subsequent separation of the two fields. For the gradual turn-on, this process occurred in the trailing sheath, and marked the departure of the bubble of flux from the dipole field that was left behind. For the gradual turn-off, the action occurred in the leading sheath where the outgoing bubble of opposite polarity became visible. Intuitively, this seems like a general process that occurs whenever a field of one polarity passes through a field of opposite polarity and gradually exceeds it in strength. In this chapter, we will pursue this idea by considering other examples of interacting magnetic fields.