Inward Motions in the Outer Solar Corona between 7 and 12 R ⊙: Evidence for Waves or Magnetic Reconnection Jets?
Abstract
DeForest et al. used synoptic visible-light image sequences from the COR2 coronagraph on board the STEREO-A spacecraft to identify inbound wave motions in the outer corona beyond 7 solar radii and inferred, from the observation, that the Alfvén surface separating the magnetically dominated corona from the flow dominated wind must be located beyond at least 12 solar radii from the Sun over polar coronal holes and beyond 15 solar radii in the streamer belt. Here, we attempt identification of the observed inward signal by theoretically reconstructing height-speed diagrams and comparing them to the observed profiles. Interpretation in terms of Alfvén waves or Alfvénic turbulence appears to be ruled out by the fact that the observed signal shows a deceleration of inward motion when approaching the Sun. Fast magnetoacoustic waves are not directly ruled out in this way, as it is possible for inward waves observed in quadrature, but not propagating exactly radially, to suffer total reflection as the Alfvén speed rises close to the Sun. However, the reconstructed signal in the height-speed diagram has the wrong concavity. A final possibility is decelerating reconnection jets, most probably from component reconnection, in the accelerating wind: the profile in this case appears to match the observations very well. This interpretation does not alter the conclusion that the Alfvén surface must be at least 12 solar radii from the photosphere. Further observations should help constrain this process, never identified previously in this way, in the distance range from 7 to 12 solar radii.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- July 2016
- DOI:
- 10.3847/2041-8205/825/1/L3
- Bibcode:
- 2016ApJ...825L...3T
- Keywords:
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- magnetic reconnection;
- magnetohydrodynamics: MHD;
- solar wind;
- Sun: corona;
- waves