Magnetic topology, nonequilibrium, and dissipation

Static equilibrium of a magnetic field throughout a large volume of highly conducting fluid requires a degree of topological symmetry that is generally lacking in nature. The dynamical nonequilibrium of the magnetic topologies in the real world forms current sheets across which there is active reconnection of the field, dissipating the energy of the magnetic strains and reducing the fields toward simpler forms. The magnetic fields in astronomical settings are generally subject to continual straining by the convection within their parent body. The work done on the field by the convection appears in the energy of the small-scale strains, and is soon dissipated by the reconnection. The intense heating of the tenuous outer atmosphere of stars by this mechanism appears to be responsible for most of the X-ray emission of ordinary stars