Using the fingerprints of solar magnetic reconnection to identify the elemental building blocks of the slow solar wind
Abstract
While the source of the fast solar wind is well understood to be linked to coronal holes, the source of the slow solar wind has remained elusive. Many previous studies of the slow solar wind have examined trends in the composition and charge states over long time scales and found strong relationships between the solar wind velocity and these plasma parameters. These relationships have been used to constrain models of solar wind source and acceleration. In this study, we take advantage of high time resolution (12 min) measurements of solar wind composition and charge-state abundances recently reprocessed by the ACE Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer (SWICS) science team to probe the timescales of solar wind variability at relatively small scales. We study an interval of slow solar wind containing quasi-periodic 90 minute structures and show that they are remnants of solar magnetic reconnection. Each 90-minute parcel of slow solar wind, though the speed remains steady, exhibits the complete range of charge state and composition variations expected for the entire range of slow solar wind, which is repeated again in the next 90-minute interval. These observations show that previous statistical results break down on these shorter timescales, and impose new and important constraints on models of slow solar wind creation. We conclude by suggesting these structures were created through interchange magnetic reconnection and form elemental building blocks of the slow solar wind. We also discuss the necessity of decoupling separately the process(es) responsible for the release and acceleration.
- Publication:
-
AAS/AGU Triennial Earth-Sun Summit
- Pub Date:
- April 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015TESS....110802K