1208.2961 (Zhu-Xing Liang et al.)

Why the concept of frozen-in field lines is often misleading    [PDF]

Zhu-Xing Liang, Yi Liang

According to the concept of frozen-in field lines, a highly conducting fluid can move freely along magnetic field lines but cannot freely traverse them. Here we show analytically that under some special conditions, the frozen-in field concept may not hold. Under some conditions, whether a conducting fluid can freely cross magnetic field lines or not appears to depend solely on the gradient of the magnetic field in the direction of fluid movement and is independent of the magnetic field strength. We especially emphasize the significance of isomagnetic surfaces and polarization charges. We also present experimental results to support our analysis.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1208.2961