Searching for a Solar Source of Magnetic-Field Switchbacks in Parker Solar Probe’s First Encounter

• DOI: 10.1007/s11207-022-02022-4
• Publication Date: 2022-07-15T07:02:56Z
• Authors: D. de Pablos; T. Samanta; S. T. Badman; C. Schwanitz; S. M. Bahauddin; L. K. Harra; G. Petrie; C. Mac Cormack; C. H. Mandrini; N. E. Raouafi; V. Martinez Pillet; M. Velli
• Keywords: Environmental Magnetism; Coronal loop; Solar wind; Astronomy; Magnetosome Formation in Prokaryotes; Solar Dynamics Observatory; Astrophysics; Quantum mechanics; 01 natural sciences; Article; Nanoflares; OBSERVATIONS; Plasma; Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.3; 0103 physical sciences; https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1; Molecular Biology; Observations; Solar wind; Coronal holes; Observations; Formation and Evolution of the Solar System; SOLAR WIND; Corona (planetary geology); Solar radius; Solar physics; Solar Physics and Space Weather; Physics; CORONAL HOLES; Life Sciences; Helmet streamer; Astronomy and Astrophysics; Astrobiology; Venus; Coronal hole; Materials science; Interplanetary magnetic field; Physics and Astronomy; 13. Climate action; Physical Sciences; Metallurgy; Flux (metallurgy); Coronal holes; Coronal mass ejection; Interplanetary spaceflight; Interplanetary medium

AbstractParker Solar Probe observations show ubiquitous magnetic-field reversals closer to the Sun, often referred to as “switchbacks”. The switchbacks have been observed before in the solar wind near 1 AU and beyond, but their occurrence was historically rare. PSP measurements below ∼ 0.2 AU show that switchbacks are, however, the most prominent structures in the “young” solar wind. In this work, we analyze remote-sensing observations of a small equatorial coronal hole to which PSP was connected during the perihelion of Encounter 1. We investigate whether some of the switchbacks captured during the encounter were of coronal origin by correlating common switchback in situ signatures with remote observations of their expected coronal footpoint. We find strong evidence that timescales present in the corona are relevant to the outflowing, switchback-filled solar wind, as illustrated by strong linear correlation. We also determine that spatial analysis of the observed region is optimal, as the implied average solar-wind speed more closely matches that observed by PSP at the time. We observe that hemispherical structures are strongly correlated with the radial proton velocity and the mass flux in the solar wind. The above findings suggest that a subpopulation of the switchbacks are seeded at the corona and travel into interplanetary space.