Nonlinear Force-Free Field Reconstruction Based on MHD Relaxation Method

In this study, we extrapolate a nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) from an observed photospheric magnetic field to understand the three-dimensional (3D) coronal magnetic field producing a huge solar flare. The purpose of this study is to develop a NLFFF extrapolation code based on the so-called MHD relaxation method and check how accurately our model reconstructs a coronal field. Furthermore, we apply it to the photospheric magnetic field obtained by Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on board Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to reconstruct a 3D magnetic structure. We first investigate factors in controlling the accuracy of our NLFFF code by using a semi-analytical solution obtained by Low & Lou (1990). To extend a work done by Inoue et al. (2014), we apply various boundary conditions at the side and top boundaries in order to make our solution close to a realistic solution. As a consequence, our solution has a good accuracy when three components of a reference field are all fixed at the boundaries. Furthermore, it is also found that our solution is well matched to the Low & Lou solution in the central area of a simulation domain when the three components of a potential field are fixed at side and top boundaries (this approach is close to a realistic solution). Finally, we present the 3D coronal magnetic field producing an X 1.5-class flare in the active region 11166 through the extrapolation from SDO/HMI.