Magnetic Reconnection in the Solar Streamer Belt as a Source of the Slow Solar Wind

Details Magnetic Reconnection in the Solar Streamer Belt as a Source of the Slow Solar Wind Magnetic Reconnection in the Solar Streamer Belt as a Source of the Slow Solar Wind

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufmsh51b1601r&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #SH51B-1601

Physics

7524 Magnetic Fields, 7526 Magnetic Reconnection (2723, 7835)

Scientific paper

The slow component of the solar wind is conjectured to originate in and around the solar streamer belt. The region beyond the cusp of an helmet streamer is characterized by the presence of a current sheet embedded in a plasma flow, and plasma density enhancements accelerating radially outward have been observed by the Large-Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) instrument on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). In the present work we investigate the stability of such configuration. Due to the coupling with the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, magnetic reconnection can in fact give rise to the formation of density enhanced magnetic islands that accelerate outward. We have previously investigated this scenario in 2D cartesian simulations. In the present work we explore the behavior of such a system in spherical geometry. Global 3D MHD simulations have found that the velocity, at a fixed radius, grows from a slow value at the current sheet towards higher values towards the polar regions. The steady-state which was reached showed the bimodal characteristic of the solar wind, but the slow component did not show its characteristic variability. We present 2D numerical simulations, performed with the SAIC MHD spherical code (MAS), of the region beyond the cusp of an helmet streamer from 1 R&sun; up to 20 R&sun;.

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