Interchange Reconnection Alfven Wave Generation

Abstract

Given recent observational results of interchange reconnection processes in the solar corona and the theoretical development of the S-Web model for the slow solar wind, we extend the analysis of the 3D MHD simulation of interchange reconnection by Edmondson et al. (Astrophys. J. 707, 1427, 2009). Specifically, we analyze the consequences of the dynamic streamer-belt jump that corresponds to flux opening by interchange reconnection. Information about the magnetic field restructuring by interchange reconnection is carried throughout the system by Alfven waves propagating away from the reconnection region, distributing the shear and twist imparted by the driving flows, including shedding the injected stress-energy and accumulated magnetic helicity along newly open fieldlines. We quantify the properties of the reconnection-generated wave activity in the simulation. There is a localized high-frequency component associated with the current sheet/reconnection site and an extended low-frequency component associated with the large-scale torsional Alfven wave generated from the interchange reconnection field restructuring. The characteristic wavelengths of the torsional Alfven wave reflect the spatial size of the energized bipolar flux region. Lastly, we discuss avenues of future research by modeling these interchange reconnection-driven waves and investigating their observational signatures.

18 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Solar Physics

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Origins of the Ambient Solar Wind: Implications for Space Weather
• Damping of Alfven waves by Turbulence and its Consequences: from Cosmic-Rays Streaming to Launching Winds
• The First Ionization Potential Effect from the Ponderomotive Force: On the Polarization and Coronal Origin of the Alfven Waves
• Formation and Reconnection of Three-dimensional Current Sheets with a Guide Field in the Solar Corona
• Determining the Elemental and Isotopic Composition of the preSolar Nebula from Genesis Data Analysis: The Case of Oxygen