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Register a new userIn Situ Properties of Small and Large Flux Ropes in the Solar Wind
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Two populations of twisted magnetic field tubes, or flux ropes (hereafter, FRs), are detected by in situ measurements in the solar wind. While small FRs are crossed by the observing spacecraft within few hours, with a radius typically less than 0.1AU, larger FRs, or magnetic clouds (hereafter, MCs), have durations of about half a day. The main aim of this study is to compare the properties of both populations of FRs observed by the Wind spacecraft at 1 AU. To do so, we use standard correlation techniques for the FR parameters, as well as histograms and more refined statistical methods. Although several properties seem at first different for small FRs and MCs, we show that they are actually governed by the same propagation physics. For example, we observe no in situ signatures of expansion for small FRs, contrary to MCs. We demonstrate that this result is in fact expected: small FRs expand similarly to MCs, as a consequence of a total pressure balance with the surrounding medium, but the expansion signature is well hidden by velocity fluctuations. Next, we find that the FR radius, velocity and magnetic field strength are all positively correlated, with correlation factors than can reach a value >0.5. This result indicates a remnant trace of the FR ejection process from the corona. We also find a larger FR radius at the apex than at the legs (up to three times larger at the apex), for FR observed at 1 AU. Finally, assuming that the detected FRs have a large-scale configuration in the heliosphere, we derived the mean axis shape from the probability distribution of the axis orientation. We therefore interpret the small FR and MC properties in a common framework of FRs interacting with the solar wind, and we disentangle the physics present behind their common and different features.
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Flux ropes are twisted magnetic structures, which can be detected by in situ measurements in the solar wind. However, different properties of detected flux ropes suggest different types of flux-rope population. As such, are there different populations of flux ropes? The answer is positive, and is the result of the analysis of four lists of flux ropes, including magnetic clouds (MCs), observed at 1 AU. The in situ data for the four lists have been fitted with the same cylindrical force-free field model, which provides an estimation of the local flux-rope parameters such as its radius and orientation. Since the flux-rope distributions have a large dynamic range, we go beyond a simple histogram analysis by developing a partition technique that uniformly distributes the statistical fluctuations over the radius range. By doing so, we find that small flux ropes with radius R<0.1 AU have a steep power-law distribution in contrast to the larger flux ropes (identified as MCs), which have a Gaussian-like distribution. Next, from four CME catalogs, we estimate the expected flux-rope frequency per year at 1 AU. We find that the predicted numbers are similar to the frequencies of MCs observed in situ. However, we also find that small flux ropes are at least ten times too abundant to correspond to CMEs, even to narrow ones. Investigating the different possible scenarios for the origin of those small flux ropes, we conclude that these twisted structures can be formed by blowout jets in the low corona or in coronal streamers.
Magnetic flux rope, formed by the helical magnetic field lines, can sometimes remain its shape while carrying significant plasma flow that is aligned with the local magnetic field. We report the existence of such structures and static flux ropes by applying the Grad-Shafranov-based algorithm to the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) in-situ measurements in the first five encounters. These structures are detected at heliocentric distances, ranging from 0.13 to 0.66 au, in a total of 4-month time period. We find that flux ropes with field-aligned flows, although occur more frequently, have certain properties similar to those of static flux ropes, such as the decaying relations of the magnetic fields within structures with respect to heliocentric distances. Moreover, these events are more likely with magnetic pressure dominating over the thermal pressure. About one-third of events are detected in the relatively fast-speed solar wind. Taking into account the high Alfvenicity, we also compare with switchback spikes identified during three encounters and interpret their inter-relations. We find that some switchbacks can be detected when the spacecraft traverses flux rope-like structures. The cross-section maps for selected events are presented via the new Grad-Shafranov type reconstruction. Finally, the possible evolution of the magnetic flux rope structures in the inner heliosphere is discussed.
The slow solar wind exhibits strong variability on timescales from minutes to days, likely related to magnetic reconnection processes in the extended solar corona. Higginson2017b presented a numerical magnetohydrodynamic simulation which showed interchange magnetic reconnection is ubiquitous and most likely responsible for releasing much of the slow solar wind, in particular along topological features known as the Separatrix-Web (S-Web). Here, we continue our analysis, focusing on two specific aspects of structured slow solar wind variability. The first type is present in the slow solar wind found near the heliospheric current sheet, and the second we predict should be present everywhere S-Web slow solar wind is observed. For the first type, we examine the evolution of three-dimensional magnetic flux ropes formed at the top of the helmet streamer belt by reconnection in the heliospheric current sheet (HCS). For the second, we examine the simulated remote and in situ signatures of the large-scale torsional Alfven wave (TAW) which propagates along an S-Web arc to high latitudes. We describe the similarities and differences between the reconnection-generated flux ropes in the HCS, which resemble the well-known streamer blob observations, and the similarly structured TAW. We discuss the implications of our results for the complexity of the HCS and surrounding plasma sheet, and the potential for particle acceleration, as well as the interchange reconnection scenarios which may generate TAWs in the solar corona. We discuss predictions from our simulation results for the dynamic slow solar wind in the extended corona and inner heliosphere.
We systematically search for magnetic flux rope structures in the solar wind to within the closest distance to the Sun of 0.13 AU, using data from the third and fourth orbits of the Parker Solar Probe. We extend our previous magnetic helicity based technique of identifying magnetic flux rope structures. The method is improved upon to incorporate the azimuthal flow, which becomes larger as the spacecraft approaches the Sun. A total of 21 and 34 magnetic flux ropes are identified during the third (21 days period) and fourth (17 days period) orbits of the Parker Solar Probe, respectively. We provide a statistical analysis of the identified structures, including their relation to the streamer belt and heliospheric current sheet crossing.
This work extends recent efforts on the force-free modeling of large flux rope-type structures (magnetic clouds, MCs) to much smaller spatial scales. We first select small flux ropes (SFRs) by eye whose duration is unambiguous and which were observed by the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) or Wind spacecraft during solar maximum years. We inquire into which analytical technique is physically most appropriate. We consider three models: (i) linear force-free field ($bigtriangledowntimes$ B = $alpha (r) $ B) with a specific, prescribed constant $alpha$ (Lundquist solution), and (ii) with $alpha$ as a free constant parameter (Lundquist-alpha solution), (iii) uniform twist field (Gold-Hoyle solution). We retain only those cases where the impact parameter is less than one-half the FR radius, $R$, so the results should be robust (29 cases). The SFR radii lie in the range [$sim$ 0.003, 0.059] AU. Comparing results, we find that the Lundquist-alpha and uniform twist solutions yielded comparable and small normalized $chi^2$ values in most cases. We then use Grad-Shafranov (GS) reconstruction to analyze these events further. We then considered the twist per unit length, $tau$, both its profile through the FR and its absolute value. We find $tau$ to lie in the range [5.6, 34] turns/AU. The GH model-derived $tau$ values are comparable to those obtained from GS reconstruction. We find that twist unit length ($L$) is inversely proportional to $R$, as $tau sim 0.17/R$. We combine MC and SFR results on $tau (R)$ and give a relation which is approximately valid for both sets. The axial and azimuthal fluxes, $F_z$ and $F_phi$, vary as $approx 2.1 B_0 R^2 times10^{21}$ Mx and $F_{phi}/L approx 0.36 B_0 R times10^{21}$Mx/AU. The relative helicity per unit length, $H/L approx 0.75 B_0^2 R^3$$times 10^{42}$ Mx$^2$/AU.
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