A MODEL FOR THE SOURCES OF THE SLOW SOLAR WIND

By S. Antiochos, Zoran Mikic, V. Titov, Roberto Lionello, Jon A. Linker. 2010

210 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Models for the origin of the slow solar wind must account for two seemingly contradictory observations: the slow wind has the composition of the closed-field corona, implying that it originates from the continuous opening and closing of flux at the boundary between open and closed field. On the other hand, the slow wind also has large angular width, up to ∼60°, suggesting that its source extends far from the open–closed boundary. We propose a model that can explain both observations. The key idea is that the source of the slow wind at the Sun is a network of narrow (possibly singular) open-field corridors that map to a web of separatrices and quasi-separatrix layers in the heliosphere. We compute analytically the topology of an open-field corridor and show that it produces a quasi-separatrix layer in the heliosphere that extends to angles far from the heliospheric current sheet. We then use an MHD code and MDI/SOHO observations of the photospheric magnetic field to calculate numerically, with high spatial resolution, the quasi-steady solar wind, and magnetic field for a time period preceding the 2008 August 1 total solar eclipse. Our numerical results imply that, at least for this time period, a web of separatrices (which we term an S-web) forms with sufficient density and extent in the heliosphere to account for the observed properties of the slow wind. We discuss the implications of our S-web model for the structure and dynamics of the corona and heliosphere and propose further tests of the model.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0fe6856c4c1f50ceda97f3c8925c1e8293ce1739

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. Pete Riley
2. S. Gibson
3. M. Owens
4. S. Cranmer
5. Roberto Lionello
6. Jon A. Linker
7. S. Bale
8. Justin C. Kasper

Citations in the corpus

• The Solar Probe Plus Mission: Humanity’s First Visit to Our Star (2016, background): “Interchange reconnection models for solar wind generation explicitly assume an intrinsic intermittency at the solar wind source in the form of reconnection between open field lines and closed coronal loops (e.g., Fisk 1996; Schwadron and McComas 2003; Suess et al. 1998; Antiochos et al. 2010).”
• Solar Orbiter (2012, background): “Recently, Antiochos et al. (2011) have presented a new model, which can account both for the observed large angular width (up to ≈60°) of the slow wind as well as its FIPenhanced coronal composition.”
• The Open Flux Problem (2017, background): “A particular example is the S-web model (Antiochos et al. 2011; Linker et al. 2011; Titov et al. 2011), which argues that an important portion of the slow wind arises from interchange reconnection between closed and open fields (Fisk et al. 1998).”
• Origins of the Ambient Solar Wind: Implications for Space Weather (2017, background): “The idea of a so-called S-web, or separatrix-web (Antiochos et al. 2011; Edmondson 2012; Higginson et al. 2017) involves a continuous range of scales between the two, with the complex topological rearrangement helping to energize the slow wind.”
• Slow Solar Wind: Observations and Modeling (2016, unknown): “Focusing on SSW origins, the process at the cusp of helmet streamers (Lapenta and Knoll 2005a), the formation of plasma blobs in the SSW (Einaudi et al. 2001) and the interaction between open and closed field lines (Antiochos et al. 2011) all involve reconnection.”