Characteristics of Interplanetary Discontinuities in the Inner Heliosphere Revealed by Parker Solar Probe

Liu, Y. Y.; Fu, H. S.; Cao, Jinbin; Liu, C. M.; Wang, Z.; Guo, Zhenyan; Xu, Y.; Bale, S. D.; Kasper, J. C.

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac06a1

Cited by 15 publications

(21 citation statements)

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“…We preliminarily investigate the type distribution and jump conditions of these IDs. A detailed statistical study of these IDs' characteristics/evolutions via the same analysis method is given in a companion paper (Liu et al., 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Categorizing MHD Discontinuities in the Inner Heliosphere by Utilizing the PSP Mission

Liu

Cao

et al. 2022

JGR Space Physics

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The interplanetary discontinuities (IDs) have been widely observed in astrophysical and space plasmas, while their characteristics and evolutions within 0.3 AU are still unclear due to the limitation of spacecraft orbits in previous missions. Here, we report three ID events, including a rotational discontinuity (RD), a tangential discontinuity (TD), and a suspected contact discontinuity (CD), detected by the Parker Solar Probe in a previously unexplored region of the heliosphere as close to the Sun as 0.13 AU. By the combination of the minimum variance analysis technique, the Walén relation and the continuity condition of the electric field, the ID orientations, propagations, and thicknesses are determined, showing a smaller typical ID thickness on the order of 100 km therein. Automated event selection using a magnetic field change threshold criterion is conducted with the PSP field data on Orbits 4 and 5. In total, 3,948 IDs are collected, yielding a ratio of RD:TD:ED:ND=73:4:22:1% $\text{RD}:\text{TD}:\text{ED}:\text{ND}=73:4:22:1\text{\%}$. The IDs within 0.4 AU account for 87% of the total IDs, resulting in sharp ID occurrence rate decrease with heliocentric distance, from ∼140 days−1 for RDs and ∼8 days−1 for TDs at 0.13 AU to about 1 day−1 for both RDs and TDs at r > 0.6 AU. Within 0.3 AU, the RDs with tiny propagation angles, i.e., the angles between the magnetic fields and the RD normals, predominate in all kinds of IDs. We further analyze the jump conditions of these IDs statistically, and find that the changes in magnetic fields and particle parameters are theoretically consistent.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Categorizing MHD Discontinuities in the Inner Heliosphere by Utilizing the PSP Mission

Liu

Cao

et al. 2022

JGR Space Physics

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“…Thickness is another crucial geometric feature of IDs. We employ the technique described in Liu et al (2021) to determine the RD propagation velocities in the plasma rest frame, i.e., V N RD,plasma…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The RDs and TDs are the most ubiquitous IDs observed in the solar wind (Smith 1973;Mariani et al 1983;Paschmann et al 2013). In general, TDs are regarded as stationary boundaries convected with the background flows (Burlaga & Ness 1969;Fu et al 2012bFu et al , 2012cLiu et al 2019), while the RDs are propagating kinks in the magnetic fields and flow fields whose jump conditions are described by the Walén relation (Smith 1973;Sonnerup et al 1987Sonnerup et al , 2006Liu et al 2021). Some IDs are suggested to originate from the Sunʼs surface, serving as boundaries separating distinct plasmas and stretched into the solar wind (Zhang et al 2008;Krasnoselskikh et al 2020), while the others are believed to be locally generated by MHD turbulence or the nonlinear evolution of Alfvén waves (Tsurutani et al 2005;Vasquez et al 2007;Greco et al 2008Greco et al , 2009Servidio et al 2011;Yang et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to the progressive development in numerical simulations and in situ spacecraft detection, more effort has been devoted to demonstrating the uniformity of IDs and intermittent structures in plasma turbulence (Vasquez et al 2007;Greco et al 2008Greco et al , 2009Borovsky 2010;Zhdankin et al 2012), and investigating dynamical processes associated with the IDs, such as the magnetic reconnection, energy dissipation, particle energization (Gosling et al 2007;Fu et al 2011Fu et al , 2017Fu et al , 2020aFu et al , 2020bWang et al 2013;Huang et al 2015;Liu et al 2019). More recently, Liu et al (2021Liu et al ( , 2022 investigate, via the Parker Solar Probe mission (Fox et al 2016), the IDs in a previously unexplored region as close to the Sun as 0.13 au, and find an extreme abundance of RDs that may be related to the local turbulence therein and play an important role in accelerating particles in the pristine solar wind. The interaction of IDs with the terrestrial bow shock has also attracted much interest since it can significantly affect the near-Earth space environments (Koval et al 2005(Koval et al , 2006Omidi & Sibeck 2007;Samsonov et al 2007;Omidi et al 2010;Fu et al 2012a;Goncharov et al 2015;Kropotina et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A variety of ID classification methods have been proposed (Smith 1973;Burlaga et al 1977;Tsurutani & Smith 1979;Neugebauer et al 1984). Here we employ the classification method described in Smith (1973), which was widely used in later studies (Tsurutani et al 1996;Neugebauer & Giacalone 2010;Liu et al 2021). In this method, TDs and RDs satisfy < 0.2…”

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Magnetic Discontinuities in the Solar Wind and Magnetosheath: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) Observations

Liu

Cao

et al. 2022

ApJ

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We perform a statistical investigation of the geometric features of interplanetary discontinuities (IDs) in the near-Earth solar wind and magnetosheath, by utilizing 14 months of Magnetospheric Multiscale mission data. 117,669 IDs are collected, including 108,049 events in the solar wind and 6399 events in the magnetosheath, with the remnant in the magnetosphere or near the bow shock/magnetopause. We find the following: (1) the ID occurrence rate is 17.0 events hr−1 in the solar wind and 5.5 events hr−1 in the magnetosheath, (2) the field rotation angles during ID crossings in the magnetosheath exhibit a two-exponential distribution with a breakpoint at 50°, which is not observed for IDs in the solar wind, (3) the magnetosheath IDs with small field rotation angles tend to be clustered, (4) by classifying the IDs into rotational discontinuities (RDs), tangential discontinuities (TDs), either TDs or RDs (EDs), and neither TDs nor RDs (NDs), we estimate RD:TD:ED:ND = 68%:5%:20%:7% in the solar wind, and RD:TD:ED:ND = 15%:44%:18%:23% in the magnetosheath, (5) the occurrence rates of RDs and TDs are, respectively 7.95 and 0.58 events hr−1 in the solar wind, and 0.57 and 1.60 events hr−1 in the magnetosheath, (6) RDs are more likely to propagate antisunward in the plasma rest frame, especially in the magnetosheath, and (7) the average thicknesses of the RDs and TDs are estimated, respectively, as 10.4 and 8.1 proton gyroradii (r p ) in the solar wind, and 17.4 and 5.0 r p in the magnetosheath. This work can improve our understanding of IDs’ interaction with the terrestrial bow shock.

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Parker Solar Probe: Four Years of Discoveries at Solar Cycle Minimum

et al. 2023

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Launched on 12 Aug. 2018, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe had completed 13 of its scheduled 24 orbits around the Sun by Nov. 2022. The mission’s primary science goal is to determine the structure and dynamics of the Sun’s coronal magnetic field, understand how the solar corona and wind are heated and accelerated, and determine what processes accelerate energetic particles. Parker Solar Probe returned a treasure trove of science data that far exceeded quality, significance, and quantity expectations, leading to a significant number of discoveries reported in nearly 700 peer-reviewed publications. The first four years of the 7-year primary mission duration have been mostly during solar minimum conditions with few major solar events. Starting with orbit 8 (i.e., 28 Apr. 2021), Parker flew through the magnetically dominated corona, i.e., sub-Alfvénic solar wind, which is one of the mission’s primary objectives. In this paper, we present an overview of the scientific advances made mainly during the first four years of the Parker Solar Probe mission, which go well beyond the three science objectives that are: (1) Trace the flow of energy that heats and accelerates the solar corona and solar wind; (2) Determine the structure and dynamics of the plasma and magnetic fields at the sources of the solar wind; and (3) Explore mechanisms that accelerate and transport energetic particles.

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Characteristics of Interplanetary Discontinuities in the Inner Heliosphere Revealed by Parker Solar Probe

Cited by 15 publications

References 64 publications

Categorizing MHD Discontinuities in the Inner Heliosphere by Utilizing the PSP Mission

Categorizing MHD Discontinuities in the Inner Heliosphere by Utilizing the PSP Mission

Magnetic Discontinuities in the Solar Wind and Magnetosheath: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) Observations

Parker Solar Probe: Four Years of Discoveries at Solar Cycle Minimum

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