One of the most striking observations made by Parker Solar Probe during its first solar encounter is the omnipresence of rapid polarity reversals in a magnetic field that is otherwise mostly radial. ...These so-called switchbacks strongly affect the dynamics of the magnetic field. We concentrate here on their macroscopic properties. First, we find that these structures are self-similar, and have neither a characteristic magnitude, nor a characteristic duration. Their waiting time statistics show evidence of aggregation. The associated long memory resides in their occurrence rate, and is not inherent to the background fluctuations. Interestingly, the spectral properties of inertial range turbulence differ inside and outside of switchback structures; in the latter the 1/f range extends to higher frequencies. These results suggest that outside of these structures we are in the presence of lower-amplitude fluctuations with a shorter turbulent inertial range. We conjecture that these correspond to a pristine solar wind.
Sharp Alfvénic Impulses in the Near-Sun Solar Wind Horbury, Timothy S.; Woolley, Thomas; Laker, Ronan ...
The Astrophysical journal. Supplement series,
02/2020, Letnik:
246, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Measurements of the near-Sun solar wind by the Parker Solar Probe have revealed the presence of large numbers of discrete Alfvénic impulses with an anti-sunward sense of propagation. These are ...similar to those previously observed near 1 au, in high speed streams over the Sun's poles and at 60 solar radii. At 35 solar radii, however, they are typically shorter and sharper than seen elsewhere. In addition, these spikes occur in "patches" and there are also clear periods within the same stream when they do not occur; the timescale of these patches might be related to the rate at which the spacecraft magnetic footpoint tracks across the coronal hole from which the plasma originated. While the velocity fluctuations associated with these spikes are typically under 100 km s−1, due to the rather low Alfvén speeds in the streams observed by the spacecraft to date, these are still associated with large angular deflections of the magnetic field-and these deflections are not isotropic. These deflections do not appear to be related to the recently reported large-scale, pro-rotation solar wind flow. Estimates of the size and shape of the spikes reveal high aspect ratio flow-aligned structures with a transverse scale of 104 km. These events might be signatures of near-Sun impulsive reconnection events.
Heat transport in the solar corona and wind is still a major unsolved astrophysical problem. Because of the key role played by electrons, the electron density and temperature(s) are important ...prerequisites for understanding these plasmas. We present such in situ measurements along the two first solar encounters of the Parker Solar Probe, between 0.5 and 0.17 au from the Sun, revealing different states of the emerging solar wind near the solar activity minimum. These preliminary results are obtained from a simplified analysis of the plasma quasi-thermal noise (QTN) spectrum measured by the Radio Frequency Spectrometer (FIELDS). The local electron density is deduced from the tracking of the plasma line, which enables accurate measurements, independent of calibrations and spacecraft perturbations, whereas the temperatures of the thermal and suprathermal components of the velocity distribution, as well as the average kinetic temperature, are deduced from the shape of the plasma line. The temperature of the weakly collisional thermal population, similar for both encounters, decreases with the distance as R−0.74, which is much slower than adiabatic. In contrast, the temperature of the nearly collisionless suprathermal population exhibits a virtually flat radial variation. The 7 s resolution of the density measurements enables us to deduce the low-frequency spectrum of compressive fluctuations around perihelion, varying as f−1.4. This is the first time that QTN spectroscopy is implemented with an electric antenna length not exceeding the plasma Debye length. As PSP will approach the Sun, the decrease in the Debye length is expected to considerably improve the accuracy of the temperature measurements.
Radio waves are strongly scattered in the solar wind, so that their apparent sources seem to be considerably larger and shifted than the actual ones. Since the scattering depends on the spectrum of ...density turbulence, a better understanding of the radio wave propagation provides indirect information on the relative density fluctuations, , at the effective turbulence scale length. Here, we analyzed 30 type III bursts detected by Parker Solar Probe (PSP). For the first time, we retrieved type III burst decay times, , between 1 and 10 MHz thanks to an unparalleled temporal resolution of PSP. We observed a significant deviation in a power-law slope for frequencies above 1 MHz when compared to previous measurements below 1 MHz by the twin-spacecraft Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) mission. We note that altitudes of radio bursts generated at 1 MHz roughly coincide with an expected location of the Alfvén point, where the solar wind becomes super-Alfvénic. By comparing PSP observations and Monte Carlo simulations, we predict relative density fluctuations, ϵ, at the effective turbulence scale length at radial distances between 2.5 and 14 to range from 0.22 to 0.09. Finally, we calculated relative density fluctuations, ϵ, measured in situ by PSP at a radial distance from the Sun of 35.7 during perihelion #1, and perihelion #2 to be 0.07 and 0.06, respectively. It is in a very good agreement with previous STEREO predictions ( ) obtained by remote measurements of radio sources generated at this radial distance.
Magnetic Field Kinks and Folds in the Solar Wind Tenerani, Anna; Velli, Marco; Matteini, Lorenzo ...
The Astrophysical journal. Supplement series,
02/2020, Letnik:
246, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Parker Solar Probe (PSP) observations during its first encounter at 35.7 R have shown the presence of magnetic field lines that are strongly perturbed to the point that they produce local inversions ...of the radial magnetic field, known as switchbacks. Their counterparts in the solar wind velocity field are local enhancements in the radial speed, or jets, displaying (in all components) the velocity-magnetic field correlation typical of large amplitude Alfvén waves propagating away from the Sun. Switchbacks and radial jets have previously been observed over a wide range of heliocentric distances by Helios, Wind, and Ulysses, although they were prevalent in significantly faster streams than seen at PSP. Here we study via numerical magnetohydrodynamics simulations the evolution of such large amplitude Alfvénic fluctuations by including, in agreement with observations, both a radial magnetic field inversion and an initially constant total magnetic pressure. Despite the extremely large excursion of magnetic and velocity fields, switchbacks are seen to persist for up to hundreds of Alfvén crossing times before eventually decaying due to the parametric decay instability. Our results suggest that such switchback/jet configurations might indeed originate in the lower corona and survive out to PSP distances, provided the background solar wind is sufficiently calm, in the sense of not being pervaded by strong density fluctuations or other gradients, such as stream or magnetic field shears, that might destabilize or destroy them over shorter timescales.
We compare magnetic field measurements taken by the FIELDS instrument on board Parker Solar Probe (PSP) during its first solar encounter to predictions obtained by potential field source surface ...(PFSS) modeling. Ballistic propagation is used to connect the spacecraft to the source surface. Despite the simplicity of the model, our results show striking agreement with PSP's first observations of the heliospheric magnetic field from ∼0.5 au (107.5 R ) down to 0.16 au (35.7 R ). Further, we show the robustness of the agreement is improved both by allowing the photospheric input to the model to vary in time, and by advecting the field from PSP down to the PFSS model domain using in situ PSP/Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons measurements of the solar wind speed instead of assuming it to be constant with longitude and latitude. We also explore the source surface height parameter (RSS) to the PFSS model, finding that an extraordinarily low source surface height (1.3-1.5 R ) predicts observed small-scale polarity inversions, which are otherwise washed out with regular modeling parameters. Finally, we extract field line traces from these models. By overlaying these on extreme ultraviolet images we observe magnetic connectivity to various equatorial and mid-latitude coronal holes, indicating plausible magnetic footpoints and offering context for future discussions of sources of the solar wind measured by PSP.
Abstract
We analyze a merged Parker Solar Probe (PSP) and Solar Orbiter (SO) data set covering heliocentric distances 13
R
⊙
≲
R
≲ 220
R
⊙
to investigate the radial evolution of power and spectral ...index anisotropy in the wavevector space of solar wind turbulence. Our results show that anisotropic signatures of turbulence display a distinct radial evolution when fast,
V
sw
≥ 400 km s
−1
, and slow,
V
sw
≤ 400 km s
−1
, wind streams are considered. The anisotropic properties of slow wind in Earth orbit are consistent with a “critically balanced” cascade, but both spectral index anisotropy and power anisotropy diminish with decreasing heliographic distance. Fast streams are observed to roughly retain their near-Sun anisotropic properties, with the observed spectral index and power anisotropies being more consistent with a “dynamically aligned” type of cascade, though the lack of extended fast wind intervals makes it difficult to accurately measure the anisotropic scaling. A high-resolution analysis during the first perihelion of PSP confirms the presence of two subranges within the inertial range, which may be associated with the transition from weak to strong turbulence. The transition occurs at
κ
d
i
≈ 6 × 10
−2
and signifies a shift from −5/3 to −2 and from −3/2 to −1.57 scaling in parallel and perpendicular spectra, respectively. Our results provide strong observational constraints for anisotropic theories of MHD turbulence in the solar wind.
We present quantitative evidence that interplanetary type II radio bursts and sustained gamma-ray emission (SGRE) events from the Sun are closely related. Out of about 30 SGRE events reported in ...Share et al. we consider 13 events that had a duration exceeding ∼5 hr to exclude any flare-impulsive phase gamma-rays. The SGRE duration also has a linear relation with the ending frequency of the bursts. The synchronism between the ending times of SGRE and the type II emission strongly supports the idea that the same shock accelerates electrons to produce type II bursts and protons (>300 MeV) that propagate from the shock to the solar surface to produce SGRE via pion decay. The acceleration of high-energy particles is confirmed by the associated solar energetic particle (SEP) events detected at Earth and/or at the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory spacecraft. Furthermore, the presence of >300 MeV protons is corroborated by the fact that the underlying coronal mass ejections (CMEs) had properties identical to those associated with ground-level enhancement events: they had speeds of >2000 km s−1 and all were full-halo CMEs. Many SEP events did not have detectable flux at Earth in the >300 MeV energy channels, presumably because of poor magnetic connectivity.
Abstract
The trace magnetic power spectrum in the solar wind is known to be characterized by a double power law at scales much larger than the proton gyro-radius, with flatter spectral exponents ...close to −1 found at the lower frequencies below an inertial range with indices closer to −1.5, −1.67. The origin of the 1/
f
range is still under debate. In this study, we selected 109 magnetically incompressible solar wind intervals (
δ
∣
B
∣/∣
B
∣ ≪ 1) from Parker Solar Probe encounters 1–13 that display such double power laws, with the aim of understanding the statistics and radial evolution of the low-frequency power spectral exponents from Alfvén point up to 0.3 au. New observations from closer to the Sun show that in the low-frequency range solar wind, turbulence can display spectra much shallower than 1/
f
, evolving asymptotically to 1/
f
as advection time increases, indicating a dynamic origin for the 1/
f
range formation. We discuss the implications of this result on the Matteini et al. conjecture for the 1/
f
origin as well as example spectra displaying a triple power law consistent with the model proposed by Chandran et al., supporting the dynamic role of parametric decay in the young solar wind. Our results provide new constraints on the origin of the 1/
f
spectrum and further show the possibility of the coexistence of multiple formation mechanisms.
The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) completed its first solar encounter in 2018 November, bringing it closer to the Sun than any previous mission. This allowed in situ investigation of the heliospheric ...current sheet (HCS) inside the orbit of Venus. The Parker observations reveal a well defined magnetic sector structure placing the spacecraft in a negative polarity region for most of the encounter. The observed current sheet crossings are compared to the predictions of both potential field source surface and magnetohydrodynamic models. All the model predictions are in good qualitative agreement with the observed crossings of the HCS. The models also generally agree that the HCS was nearly parallel with the solar equator during the inbound leg of the encounter and more significantly inclined during the outbound portion. The current sheet crossings at PSP are also compared to similar measurements made by the Wind spacecraft near Earth at 1 au. After allowing for orbital geometry and propagation effects, a remarkable agreement has been found between the observations of these two spacecraft underlying the large-scale stability of the HCS. Finally, the detailed magnetic field and plasma structure of each crossing is analyzed. Marked differences were observed between PSP and Wind measurements in the type of structures found near the HCS. This suggests that significant evolution of these small solar wind structures takes place before they reach 1 au.
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