Coincidence of heliospheric current sheet and stream interface: Implications for the origin and evolution of the solar wind

Huang, Jia; Liu, Yong C.‐M.; Klecker, B.; Chen, Yao

doi:10.1002/2015ja021729

Cited by 22 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Besides the event presented in Huang et al . [], we found that some coincidence cases are related with ideal HCSs, namely, type (a) or (c), and some coincidence cases have a heat flux dropout (HFD) in the vicinity. Therefore, the coincidence cases are classified into three types.…”

Section: Observationsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…We will only show examples of type I and type III events in the following since a type II event is presented in detail in Huang et al . [].…”

Section: Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The PADs shown in the third panel are normalized by the mean value of all pitch angles at the same time. The normalization does not alter the nature of the data but improves its clarity [ Huang et al ., ]. The solid vertical line near 05:00 UT marks the HCS, where the azimuthal angle flipped from near 100° to 280°, and the TSB was crossed at the same time, when the pitch angle of suprathermal electrons strahl changed from predominately 180° to 0°.…”

Section: Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the pressure cannot modify the magnetic field topology and reduce the distance to zero, especially at 1 AU when the slow and fast solar wind were not mixed up [e.g., Wimmer‐Schweingruber et al ., ]. The observed coincidence is most likely to form near the Sun's surface where the slow wind originates [ Crooker et al ., ; Huang et al ., ]. Studying such events may shed some light on the origin and evolution of the slow solar wind.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A recent paper [ Huang et al ., ] reported a special coincidence case with high time resolution data from STEREO A at about 1 AU. The HCS/SI coincidence case is observed with a nonideal HCS where the HCS is separated from the TSB by 6 h. Can HCS/SI coincidence also happen for other situations, such as for ideal HCSs?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A multievent study of the coincidence of heliospheric current sheet and stream interface

et al. 2016

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Generally, the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) is separated from the stream interface (SI) at about 1 AU. A recent study found an event where the HCS coincides with the SI, and in which the HCS is separated from the true sector boundary (TSB), defined by the switch of suprathermal electron pitch angle distributions. We present a multievent study by using STEREO, ACE, and Wind data during 2007 to 2010 to investigate whether other classes of such coincidence cases exist, as well as their stability. We find coincidence cases related to ideal HCSs, separated TSB and HCS, or heat flux dropouts in the vicinity; therefore, we define them as types I, II, and III. Among the nine coincidence cases, there are seven type I, one type II, and one type III. For each type, a possible schematic origin is presented. We also compared the observations on different spacecraft. Only two out of nine cases are observed by several spacecraft with a large separation, indicating that the coincidence structures are usually unstable. The study also shows that the coincidence cases have a variable connection with pseudostreamers. Interchange reconnection and pseudostreamers could play a role in forming these coincidence cases and lead to different configurations in different situations.

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Section: Observationsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…We will only show examples of type I and type III events in the following since a type II event is presented in detail in Huang et al . [].…”

Section: Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A multievent study of the coincidence of heliospheric current sheet and stream interface

et al. 2016

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A multispacecraft study of a small flux rope entrained by rolling back magnetic field lines

et al. 2017

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We present a small flux rope (SFR) with smooth magnetic field rotations entrained by rolling back magnetic field lines around 1 AU. Such SFRs have only been seldom reported in the literature. This SFR was adjacent to a heliospheric plasma sheet (HPS), which is defined as a high plasma beta region in the vicinity of a heliospheric current sheet. Even though the SFR and HPS have different plasma beta, they possess similar plasma signatures (such as temperature, density, and bulk speed), density ratio of alpha particle‐to‐proton (Nα/Np), and heavy ion ionization states, which imply that they may have a similar origin in the corona. The composition and the configuration of the rolling back magnetic field lines suggested that the SFR originated from the streamer belt through interchange reconnection. The origin processes of the SFR are presented here. Combining the observations of STEREO and ACE, the SFR was shown to have an axis tilted to the ecliptic plane and the radius may vary with different spatial positions. In this study, we suggest that interchange reconnection can play an important role for the origin of, at least, some SFRs and slow solar wind.

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In Situ Analysis of Heliospheric Current Sheet Propagation

et al. 2017

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The heliospheric current sheet (HCS) is an important structure not only for understanding the physics of interplanetary space but also for space weather prediction. We investigate the differences of the HCS arrival time between three spacecraft separated in heliolongitude, heliolatitude and radial distance from the Sun (STEREO A, STEREO B, and ACE) to understand the key factors controlling the HCS propagation. By assuming that the source of the solar wind does not evolve except for the effects of solar rotation, we first test the first‐order approach method (ignoring latitudinal differences), using STEREO observation during the year 2007, when the Sun was quiet and the two STEREO spacecraft were separated in heliolongitude by less than 44°. The first‐order approach method matches well with observations for many events except for those events when the HCS has a small inclination angle to the ecliptic plane. The latitudinal effect is suggested to account for such discrepancies. The predictions are not improved much by considering the HCS inclination angle obtained from the potential field source surface (PFSS) model. However, the predictions match well with the observations when the HCS inclination angle at 1 AU is obtained from the time differences of HCS arrival times between the STEREO B and ACE spacecraft. An improved model of calculating the inclination of the heliospheric current sheet other than PFSS is needed.

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Coincidence of heliospheric current sheet and stream interface: Implications for the origin and evolution of the solar wind

Cited by 22 publications

References 62 publications

A multievent study of the coincidence of heliospheric current sheet and stream interface

A multievent study of the coincidence of heliospheric current sheet and stream interface

A multispacecraft study of a small flux rope entrained by rolling back magnetic field lines

In Situ Analysis of Heliospheric Current Sheet Propagation

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