Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2016
The rate of change of magnetic flux Ф contained within a closed curve C moving with the plasma velocity u, is given by
where B is the magnetic induction and S is a surface bounded by the curve C. Using the hydromagnetic equation,
where η is the magnetic diffusivity, this becomes
In many astrophysical contexts η is small and thus approximately
Since this implies that the flux within any moving closed curve does not change, the field is said to be ‘frozen into’ the plasma and moving with it.