Formation of Heliospheric Arcs of Slow Solar Wind

Higginson, A. K.; Antiochos, S. K.; DeVore, C. R.; Wyper, P. F.; Zurbuchen, T. H.

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa6d72

Cited by 41 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The relatively small deviations at early times may be ascribed to the relatively coarse grid resolution used in this calculation. The much larger deviations at later times can only be explained by magnetic reconnection occurring in the corona; similar patterns were reported previously by Higginson et al (2017b).…”

Section: Coronal Evolution: Single Driversupporting

confidence: 89%

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Effects of Pseudostreamer Boundary Dynamics on Heliospheric Field and Wind

Aslanyan

Pontin

Wyper

et al. 2021

ApJ

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Interchange reconnection has been proposed as a mechanism for the generation of the slow solar wind, and a key contributor to determining its characteristic qualities. In this paper we study the implications of interchange reconnection for the structure of the plasma and field in the heliosphere. We use the Adaptively Refined Magnetohydrodynamic Solver to simulate the coronal magnetic evolution in a coronal topology containing both a pseudostreamer and helmet streamer. We begin with a geometry containing a low-latitude coronal hole that is separated from the main polar coronal hole by a pseudostreamer. We drive the system by imposing rotating flows at the solar surface within and around the low-latitude coronal hole, which leads to a corrugation (at low altitudes) of the separatrix surfaces that separate open from closed magnetic flux. Interchange reconnection is induced both at the null points and separators of the pseudostreamer, and at the global helmet streamer. We demonstrate that a preferential occurrence of interchange reconnection in the "lanes" between our driving cells leads to a filamentary pattern of newly opened flux in the heliosphere. These flux bundles connect to but extend far from the separatrixweb (S-Web) arcs at the source surface. We propose that the pattern of granular and supergranular flows on the photosphere should leave an observable imprint in the heliosphere.

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Section: Coronal Evolution: Single Driversupporting

confidence: 89%

“…This motivates the study of interchange reconnection in each of these different scenarios. Interchange reconnection in a narrow corridor of open flux was addressed in the studies of Higginson et al (2017aHigginson et al ( , 2017b.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Pseudostreamer Boundary Dynamics on Heliospheric Field and Wind

Aslanyan

Pontin

Wyper

et al. 2021

ApJ

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“…The fast solar wind is known to come from open solar magnetic field regions in coronal holes (e.g., Cranmer 2009), while the source of the slow solar wind is less clear (e.g., Fisk et al 1999, Tu et al, 2005, Kasper et al 2007, 2012, Suess et al 2009, Higginson et al 2017). The heliospheric current sheet (HCS) is embedded in the slow solar wind.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Heliospheric Current Sheet and Plasma Sheet during Parker Solar Probe’s First Orbit

Lavraud

Fargette

Réville

et al. 2020

ApJL

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We present Heliospheric Current Sheet (HCS) and Plasma Sheet (HPS) observations during Parker Solar Probe's (PSP) first orbit around the Sun. We focus on the eight intervals that display a true sector boundary (TSB; based on suprathermal electron pitch angle distributions) with one or several associated current sheets. The analysis shows that (1) the main density enhancements in the vicinity of the TSB and HCS are typically associated with electron strahl dropouts, implying magnetic disconnection from the Sun, (2) the density enhancements are just about twice that in the surrounding regions, suggesting mixing of plasmas from each side of the HCS, (3) the velocity changes at the main boundaries are either correlated or anticorrelated with magnetic field changes, consistent with magnetic reconnection, (4) there often exists a layer of disconnected magnetic field just outside the high-density regions, in agreement with a reconnected topology, (5) while a few cases consist of short-lived density and velocity changes, compatible with short-duration reconnection exhausts, most events are much longer and show the presence of flux ropes interleaved with higher-β regions. These findings are consistent with the transient release of density blobs and flux ropes through sequential magnetic reconnection at the tip of the helmet streamer. The data also demonstrate that, at least during PSP's first orbit, the only structure that may be defined as the HPS is the density structure that results from magnetic reconnection, and its by-products, likely released near the tip of the helmet streamer. * There is a correlation or anti-correlation at most observed boundaries. In a few cases more complex velocity trends are seen, generally in association with flux rope-type structures.

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“…Many numerical investigations of the slow SW structure and origin have been conducted (Edmondson et al, ; Higginson et al, ; ; Higginson & Lynch, ; Linker et al, ), although these do not resolve the SW scale sizes in question. The results presented here show field line‐integrated plasma and magnetic field properties for a rectangular volume of the coronal and photospheric magnetic field.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Magnetic Connectivity in the Corona as a Source of Structure in the Solar Wind

et al. 2019

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Five decades of satellite data confirm that the solar wind contains many boundaries separating flow with distinct magnetic and plasma properties. Some speculate the boundaries in the solar wind found at Earth originate at the solar surface and are carried along with the expanding solar wind as fossil structures to 1 AU. This begs the question, is it the physics and magnetic structure above the photosphere that creates well‐defined boundaries between different magnetic flux regions at 1 AU in the solar wind? Magnetic boundaries in the corona exist all the time as topological features of null points in the field. These topological magnetic boundaries seem to be likely locations for plasma boundaries. It can be expected that these boundaries are typical locations where field line‐integrated quantities, such as field‐aligned current, experience large and abrupt changes. We perform three‐dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the solar corona driven by photospheric foot point motions. We find that large and abrupt changes occur for field line‐integrated quantities across a magnetic topological boundary and the cause for these changes is the discontinuous mapping for magnetic field lines and thus for Alfvén waves across these boundaries. It is also demonstrated via in situ properties that thin layers of field‐aligned and perpendicular currents are frequently located at or close to topological boundaries.

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Formation of Heliospheric Arcs of Slow Solar Wind

Cited by 41 publications

References 13 publications

Effects of Pseudostreamer Boundary Dynamics on Heliospheric Field and Wind

Effects of Pseudostreamer Boundary Dynamics on Heliospheric Field and Wind

The Heliospheric Current Sheet and Plasma Sheet during Parker Solar Probe’s First Orbit

Magnetic Connectivity in the Corona as a Source of Structure in the Solar Wind

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