Interchange reconnection and the structure of the boundary between open and closed magnetic flux in the corona
Abstract
The boundary between open and closed magnetic flux in the corona is one proposed source region for the slow solar wind. The magnetic topology there is thought to be important in determining the dynamics, for example in the "S-web" slow wind model. Here we describe an algorithm to analyse the magnetic structures that form the boundary between open and closed magnetic flux on the Sun, and describe the results of implementing that algorithm on a set of coronal field extrapolations. We discuss the consequences of interchange reconnection at this boundary in a fragmented current layer, showing that it leads to efficient mixing of plasma from open and closed field regions. The associated separatrix arc of the S-web in the high corona becomes a highly-structured mixture of open and previously-closed-field-plasma, with implications for in situ measurements by Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter.
- Publication:
-
43rd COSPAR Scientific Assembly. Held 28 January - 4 February
- Pub Date:
- January 2021
- Bibcode:
- 2021cosp...43E1804P