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Register a new userSolar Wind Helium Abundance Heralds Solar Cycle Onset
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We study the solar wind helium-to-hydrogen abundances ($A_mathrm{He}$) relationship to solar cycle onset. Using OMNI/Lo data, we show that $A_mathrm{He}$ increases prior to sunspot number (SSN) minima. We also identify a rapid depletion and recovery in $A_mathrm{He}$ that occurs directly prior to cycle onset. This $A_mathrm{He}$ Shutoff happens at approximately the same time across solar wind speeds ($v_mathrm{sw}$), implying that it is formed by a mechanism distinct from the one that drives $A_mathrm{He}$s solar cycle scale variation and $v_mathrm{sw}$-dependent phase offset with respect to SSN. The time between successive $A_mathrm{He}$ shutoffs is typically on the order of the corresponding solar cycle length. Using Brightpoint (BP) measurements to provide context, we infer that this shutoff is likely related to the overlap of adjacent solar cycles and the equatorial flux cancelation of the older, extended solar cycle during Solar Minima.
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The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) is a nonlinear shear-driven instability that develops at the interface between shear flows in plasmas. KHI has been inferred in various astrophysical plasmas and has been observed in situ at the magnetospheric boundaries of solar-system planets and through remote sensing at the boundaries of coronal mass ejections. While it was hypothesized to play an important role in the mixing of plasmas and in triggering solar wind fluctuations, its direct and unambiguous observation in the solar wind was still lacking. We report in-situ observations of ongoing KHI in the solar wind using Solar Orbiter during its cruise phase. The KHI is found in a shear layer in the slow solar wind in the close vicinity of the Heliospheric Current Sheet, with properties satisfying linear theory for its development. An analysis is performed to derive the local configuration of the KHI. A 2-D MHD simulation is also set up with empirical values to test the stability of the shear layer. In addition, magnetic spectra of the KHI event are analyzed. We find that the observed conditions satisfy the KHI onset criterion from the linear theory analysis, and its development is further confirmed by the simulation. The current sheet geometry analyses are found to be consistent with KHI development. Additionally, we report observations of an ion jet consistent with magnetic reconnection at a compressed current sheet within the KHI interval. The KHI is found to excite magnetic and velocity fluctuations with power-law scalings that approximately follow $k^{-5/3}$ and $k^{-2.8}$ in the inertial and dissipation ranges, respectively. These observations provide robust evidence of KHI development in the solar wind. This sheds new light on the process of shear-driven turbulence as mediated by the KHI with implications for the driving of solar wind fluctuations.
We report analysis of sub-Alfvenic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) perturbations in the low-b{eta} radial-field solar wind using the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft data from 31 October to 12 November 2018. We calculate wave vectors using the singular value decomposition method and separate the MHD perturbations into three types of linear eigenmodes (Alfven, fast, and slow modes) to explore the properties of the sub-Alfvenic perturbations and the role of compressible perturbations in solar wind heating. The MHD perturbations there show a high degree of Alfvenicity in the radial-field solar wind, with the energy fraction of Alfven modes dominating (~45%-83%) over those of fast modes (~16%-43%) and slow modes (~1%-19%). We present a detailed analysis of a representative event on 10 November 2018. Observations show that fast modes dominate magnetic compressibility, whereas slow modes dominate density compressibility. The energy damping rate of compressible modes is comparable to the heating rate, suggesting the collisionless damping of compressible modes could be significant for solar wind heating. These results are valuable for further studies of the imbalanced turbulence near the Sun and possible heating effects of compressible modes at MHD scales in low-b{eta} plasma.
Magnetic reconnection, a fundamentally important process in many aspects of astrophysics, is believed to be initiated by the tearing instability of an electric current sheet, a region where magnetic field abruptly changes direction and electric currents build up. Recent studies have suggested that the amount of magnetic shear in these structures is a critical parameter for the switch-on nature of magnetic reconnection in the solar atmosphere, at fluid spatial scales much larger than kinetic scales. We present results of simulations of reconnection in 3D current sheets with conditions appropriate to the solar corona. Using high-fidelity simulations, we follow the evolution of the linear and non-linear 3D tearing instability, leading to reconnection. We find that, depending on the parameter space, magnetic shear can play a vital role in the onset of significant energy release and heating via non-linear tearing. Two regimes in our study exist, dependent on whether the current sheet is longer or shorter than the wavelength of the fastest growing parallel mode (in the corresponding infinite system), thus determining whether sub-harmonics are present in the actual system. In one regime, where the fastest growing parallel mode has sub-harmonics, the non-linear interaction of these sub-harmonics and the coalescence of 3D plasmoids dominates the non-linear evolution, with magnetic shear playing only a weak role in the amount of energy released. In the second regime, where the fastest growing parallel mode has no-sub-harmonics, then only strongly sheared current sheets, where oblique mode are strong enough to compete with the dominant parallel mode, show any significant energy release. We expect both regimes to exist on the Sun, and so our results have important consequences for the the question of reconnection onset in different solar physics applications.
A dynamical approach, rather than the usual statistical approach, is taken to explore the physical mechanisms underlying the nonlinear transfer of energy, the damping of the turbulent fluctuations, and the development of coherent structures in kinetic plasma turbulence. It is argued that the linear and nonlinear dynamics of Alfven waves are responsible, at a very fundamental level, for some of the key qualitative features of plasma turbulence that distinguish it from hydrodynamic turbulence, including the anisotropic cascade of energy and the development of current sheets at small scales. The first dynamical model of kinetic turbulence in the weakly collisional solar wind plasma that combines self-consistently the physics of Alfven waves with the development of small-scale current sheets is presented and its physical implications are discussed. This model leads to a simplified perspective on the nature of turbulence in a weakly collisional plasma: the nonlinear interactions responsible for the turbulent cascade of energy and the formation of current sheets are essentially fluid in nature, while the collisionless damping of the turbulent fluctuations and the energy injection by kinetic instabilities are essentially kinetic in nature.
A growing body of evidence suggests that the solar wind is powered to a large extent by an Alfven-wave (AW) energy flux. AWs energize the solar wind via two mechanisms: heating and work. We use high-resolution direct numerical simulations of reflection-driven AW turbulence (RDAWT) in a fast-solar-wind stream emanating from a coronal hole to investigate both mechanisms. In particular, we compute the fraction of the AW power at the coronal base ($P_{rm AWb}$) that is transferred to solar-wind particles via heating between the coronal base and heliocentric distance $r$, which we denote $chi_{rm H}(r)$, and the fraction that is transferred via work, which we denote $chi_{rm W}(r)$. We find that $chi_{rm W}(r_{rm A})$ ranges from 0.15 to 0.3, where $r_{rm A}$ is the Alfven critical point. This value is small compared to~one because the Alfven speed $v_{rm A} $ exceeds the outflow velocity $U$ at $r<r_{rm A}$, so the AWs race through the plasma without doing much work. At $r>r_{rm A}$, where $v_{rm A} < U$, the AWs are in an approximate sense stuck to the plasma, which helps them do pressure work as the plasma expands. However, much of the AW power has dissipated by the time the AWs reach $r=r_{rm A}$, so the total rate at which AWs do work on the plasma at $r>r_{rm A}$ is a modest fraction of $P_{rm AWb}$. We find that heating is more effective than work at $r<r_{rm A}$, with $chi_{rm H}(r_{rm A})$ ranging from 0.5 to 0.7. The reason that $chi_{rm H} geq 0.5$ in our simulations is that an appreciable fraction of the local AW power dissipates within each Alfven-speed scale height in RDAWT, and there are a few Alfven-speed scale heights between the coronal base and $r_{rm A}$.
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