| name | mackay-2026-tracking-magnetic-topology-change-corona |
| description | Per-entry paper-skill in wave500_coronal_source_mapping_pfss_045 (HelioSI 501-corpus). See body and metadata.yaml for paper identity and claim boundary. |
mackay-2026-tracking-magnetic-topology-change-corona
Runtime-neutral paper-skill. Layered: (1) scientific invariants, (2) executable protocol against abstract capabilities, (3) adapter notes (optional examples only), (4) research-generation affordances.
Trigger
Reach for this skill when explicitly tracking magnetic-topology change (skeleton, separators, nulls) in a time-dependent coronal model, not just at single snapshots.
Layer 1 — Scientific invariant
Paper identity
- Title: Tracking Magnetic Topological Change in a Time-Dependent Coronal Model
- First author: D. H. Mackay
- Authors: D. H. Mackay, TODO_verify
- Year: 2026
- arXiv: 2604.21639 (posted 2026-04-23)
- Journal: TODO_verify_with_full_text
- DOI: TODO_verify_with_full_text
Claim (narrow form)
A skeleton-based tracking algorithm follows nulls and separators continuously through a time-dependent simulation, exposing reconnection-driven topology changes that snapshot-PFSS analyses miss.
Method assumptions
- Skeleton extraction is converged at the chosen grid.
- Topology-change events can be timestamped from skeleton evolution.
Data assumptions
- Time-dependent coronal-field run.
- Validation snapshots from PFSS or NLFFF.
Failure modes (skill memory)
- Null detection is sensitive to numerical noise.
- Separator continuity can break at coarse cadence.
Figure / numerical targets
- Null-trajectory over time.
- Separator-cluster topology-change timeline.
Claim boundary
In scope. The simulation interval studied.
Out of scope — do NOT generalize:
- Do NOT extend the topology-tracking framework to coarse-cadence snapshots.
- Do NOT cite null-count statistics outside the validated resolution.
Layer 2 — Executable protocol (capability-typed)
Required capabilities (abstract)
| Capability | Purpose | Notes |
|---|
coronal.time_dependent_solve() | time-dependent run | |
topology.skeleton_extract() | skeleton + nulls + separators | |
topology.track_through_time() | continuous tracking | |
pfss.solve() | validation snapshot | |
Procedure
- Run time-dependent simulation.
- Extract skeleton at each step.
- Track nulls / separators continuously.
- Validate against PFSS or NLFFF snapshots.
Validation target
Match null/separator counts at validation snapshots.
Layer 3 — Adapter / runtime notes (optional examples)
- Time-dependent code is paper-specific; sunkit-magex.pfss for validation.
Layer 4 — Research-generation affordances
- Compose with [[lapenta-2026-magnetic-connectivity-time-dependent-corona]] for a unified topology+connectivity framework.
- Generative hypothesis: topology-change rate should correlate with sympathetic-flare angular-separation peaks ([[milligan-2024-flares-sympathetic-angular-separation]]).
Skill graph → depends_on
- [[lapenta-2026-magnetic-connectivity-time-dependent-corona]]
Links
TODOs for full-text verification
- DOI
- skeleton-extraction code