Magnetic Field Reconstruction for a Realistic Multi-Point, Multi-Scale Spacecraft Observatory

Broeren, Theodore; Klein, K. G.; TenBarge, Jason; Dors, I.; Roberts, Owen; Verscharen, Daniel

doi:10.3389/fspas.2021.727076

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Such a structure will appear as a reversal in the HMF polarity but can be distinguished from a switchback in the strahl PAD data. Simultaneous multi-point measurements of the switchback, reconnection outflow region, and flux rope by constellation-type missions such as Cluster (Escoubet et al 1997), MMS (Burch et al 2016), and the upcoming HelioSwarm (Klein et al 2019;Broeren et al 2021;Matthaeus et al 2022) will allow us to verify the validity of our model. These types of measurements can also better constrain the 3D geometry of these structures and isolate spatial variations from temporal variations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Magnetic Reconnection as a Dissipation Mechanism for Magnetic Switchbacks

Owen

Verscharen

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Context: Magnetic switchbacks are localised polarity reversals in the radial component of the heliospheric magnetic field. Observations from Parker Solar Probe (PSP) have shown that they are a prevalent feature of the near-Sun solar wind. However, observations of switchbacks at 1 au and beyond are less frequent, suggesting that these structures are dissipated by yet-to-be identified mechanisms as they propagate away from the Sun. Aims: We estimate the timescales over which magnetic switchbacks may be dissipated by magnetic reconnection and evaluate the viability of reconnection as a dissipation mechanism for switchbacks. Methods: We analyse magnetic field and plasma data from the magnetometer and Solar Wind Analyser instruments aboard Solar Orbiter between 10 August and 30 August 2021. During this period, the spacecraft was 0.6 &#8211; 0.7 au from the Sun. Results: We identify three instances of reconnection occurring at the trailing edge of magnetic switchbacks. Using hodographs and Walen analysis methods, we find that the reconnection exhaust region for all three events are bound by rotational discontinuities in the magnetic field, consistent with existing models describing the properties of reconnection in the solar wind. Based on these observations, we propose a scenario through which reconnection can dissipate a switchback and we estimate the timescales over which this occurs. We find that for our events the dissipation timescales are much shorter than the expansion timescale and thus, the complete dissipation of all three observed switchbacks would occur well before they reach Earth. Furthermore, assuming the observed reconnection rate has remained constant, and extrapolating back to an origin close to the Sun, we find that the spatial scale of these switchbacks would be considerably larger than is typically seen in the inner heliosphere. Hence, it is implied that the onset of reconnection must occur during transport in the solar wind. If typical, these results suggest that reconnection can play a significant role in dissipating switchbacks and could help explain the relative rarity of switchback observations at 1 au.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Magnetic Reconnection as a Dissipation Mechanism for Magnetic Switchbacks

Owen

Verscharen

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…Previous studies of these quantities have shown that the well-shapedness of a configuration is related to elongation and planarity symmetrically (p343 Paschmann & Daly (1998), Broeren et al (2021)). Therefore we define a new shape parameter χ that combines elongation and planarity…”

Section: Spacecraft Configurationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Data-Driven Uncertainty Quantification of the Wave-Telescope Technique: General Equations and Application to HelioSwarm

Broeren¹,

Klein²

2023

Preprint

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The upcoming NASA mission HelioSwarm will use nine spacecraft to make the first simultaneous multi-point measurements of space plasmas spanning multiple scales. Using the wave-telescope technique, HelioSwarm's measurements will allow for both the calculation of the power in wavevectorand-frequency space and the characterization of the associated dispersion relations of waves present in the plasma at MHD and ion-kinetic scales. This technique has been applied to the four-spacecraft missions of CLUSTER and MMS and its effectiveness has previously been characterized in a handful of case studies. We expand this uncertainty quantification analysis to arbitrary configurations of four through nine spacecraft for three-dimensional plane waves. We use Bayesian inference to learn equations that approximate the error in reconstructing the wavevector as a function of relative wavevector magnitude, spacecraft configuration shape, and number of spacecraft. We demonstrate the application of these equations to data drawn from a nine-spacecraft configuration to both improve the accuracy of the technique, as well as expand the magnitudes of wavevectors that can be characterized.

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“…Previous studies of these quantities have shown that the well-shapedness of a configuration is related to elongation and planarity symmetrically (Paschmann & Daly 1998;Broeren et al 2021). Therefore, we define a new shape parameter, χ, that combines elongation and planarity:…”

Section: Spacecraft Configurationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Data-driven Uncertainty Quantification of the Wave Telescope Technique: General Equations and Demonstration Using HelioSwarm

Broeren

Klein

2023

ApJS

Self Cite

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The upcoming NASA mission HelioSwarm will use nine spacecraft to make the first simultaneous multipoint measurements of space plasmas spanning multiple scales. Using the wave telescope technique, HelioSwarm’s measurements will allow for both the calculation of the power in wavevector and frequency space and the characterization of the associated dispersion relations of waves present in the plasma at MHD and ion-kinetic scales. This technique has been applied to the four-spacecraft Cluster and Magnetospheric Multiscale missions, and its effectiveness has previously been characterized in a handful of case studies. We expand this uncertainty quantification analysis to arbitrary configurations of four through nine spacecraft for three-dimensional plane waves. We use Bayesian inference to learn equations that approximate the error in reconstructing the wavevector as a function of relative wavevector magnitude, spacecraft configuration shape, and number of spacecraft. We demonstrate the application of these equations to data drawn from a nine-spacecraft configuration to both improve the accuracy of the technique, as well as expand the magnitudes of wavevectors that can be characterized.

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Magnetic Field Reconstruction for a Realistic Multi-Point, Multi-Scale Spacecraft Observatory

Cited by 10 publications

References 58 publications

Magnetic Reconnection as a Dissipation Mechanism for Magnetic Switchbacks

Magnetic Reconnection as a Dissipation Mechanism for Magnetic Switchbacks

Data-Driven Uncertainty Quantification of the Wave-Telescope Technique: General Equations and Application to HelioSwarm

Data-driven Uncertainty Quantification of the Wave Telescope Technique: General Equations and Demonstration Using HelioSwarm

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