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Final Published Version
Author
Tenerani, AnnaVelli, Marco
Matteini, Lorenzo
Réville, Victor
Shi, Chen
Bale, Stuart D.
Kasper, Justin C.
Bonnell, John W.
Case, Anthony W.
Dudok de Wit, Thierry
Goetz, Keith
Harvey, Peter R.
Klein, Kristopher G.
Korreck, Kelly
Larson, Davin
Livi, Roberto
MacDowall, Robert J.
Malaspina, David M.
Pulupa, Marc
Stevens, Michael
Whittlesey, Phyllis
Affiliation
Univ Arizona, Lunar & Planetary LabUniv Arizona, Dept Planetary Sci
Issue Date
2020-02-03
Metadata
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IOP PUBLISHING LTDCitation
Tenerani, A., Velli, M., Matteini, L., Réville, V., Shi, C., Bale, S. D., ... & Whittlesey, P. (2020). Magnetic field kinks and folds in the solar wind. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 246(2), 32.Rights
© 2020. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
Parker Solar Probe (PSP) observations during its first encounter at 35.7 R-circle dot have shown the presence of magnetic field lines that are strongly perturbed to the point that they produce local inversions of the radial magnetic field, known as switchbacks. Their counterparts in the solar wind velocity field are local enhancements in the radial speed, or jets, displaying (in all components) the velocity-magnetic field correlation typical of large amplitude Alfven waves propagating away from the Sun. Switchbacks and radial jets have previously been observed over a wide range of heliocentric distances by Helios, Wind, and Ulysses, although they were prevalent in significantly faster streams than seen at PSP. Here we study via numerical magnetohydrodynamics simulations the evolution of such large amplitude Alfvenic fluctuations by including, in agreement with observations, both a radial magnetic field inversion and an initially constant total magnetic pressure. Despite the extremely large excursion of magnetic and velocity fields, switchbacks are seen to persist for up to hundreds of Alfven crossing times before eventually decaying due to the parametric decay instability. Our results suggest that such switchback/jet configurations might indeed originate in the lower corona and survive out to PSP distances, provided the background solar wind is sufficiently calm, in the sense of not being pervaded by strong density fluctuations or other gradients, such as stream or magnetic field shears, that might destabilize or destroy them over shorter timescales.ISSN
0067-0049EISSN
1538-4365Version
Final published versionSponsors
National Aeronautics and Space Administrationae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.3847/1538-4365/ab53e1