Experimental demonstration of how strapping fields can inhibit solar prominence eruptions

It has been conjectured that the eruption of a solar prominence can be inhibited if a much larger scale, arched magnetic field straddles the prominence and effectively straps it down. We have demonstrated this effect in a laboratory experiment where a vacuum strapping field acts on a scaled simulation of a solar prominence. The required magnitude of the strapping field is in good agreement with a theoretical model that takes into account the full three-dimensional magnetic topology.