On the Parallel and Perpendicular Propagating Motions Visible in Polar Plumes: An Incubator For (Fast) Solar Wind Acceleration?

Abstract

We combine observations of the Coronal Multi-channel Polarimeter (CoMP) and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to study the characteristic properties of (propagating) Alfvenic motions and quasi-periodic intensity disturbances in polar plumes. This unique combination of instruments highlights the physical richness of the processes taking place at the base of the (fast) solar wind. The (parallel) intensity perturbations with intensity enhancements around 1% have an apparent speed of 120 km/s (in both the 171A and 193A passbands) and a periodicity of 15 minutes, while the (perpendicular) Alfvenic wave motions have a velocity amplitude of 0.5 km/s, a phase speed of 830 km/s, and a shorter period of 5 minutes on the same structures. These observations illustrate a scenario where the excited Alfvenic motions are propagating along an inhomogeneously loaded magnetic field structure such that the combination could be a potential progenitor of the magnetohydrodynamic turbulence required to accelerate the fast solar wind.

arXiv comment15 pages, 4 figures and 1 table

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Cited by in corpus (14)

• Origins of the Ambient Solar Wind: Implications for Space Weather
• Heating and Acceleration of the Fast Solar Wind by Alfvén Wave Turbulence
• Probing the physics of the solar atmosphere with the Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE): I. Coronal Heating
• Mapping the magnetic field in the solar corona through magnetoseismology
• Direct and Inverse Cascades in the Acceleration Region of the Fast Solar Wind
• On the Magnetic and Energy Characteristics of Recurrent Homologous Jets from An Emerging Flux
• Driving Solar Spicules and Jets with Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence: Testing a Persistent Idea
• On the relation between transition region network jets and coronal plumes
• Modelling the connection between propagating disturbances and solar spicules
• Propagating Kink Waves in an Open Coronal Magnetic Flux Tube with Gravitational Stratification: Magnetohydrodynamic Simulation and Forward Modelling
• Explaining Inverted Temperature Loops in the Quiet Solar Corona with Magnetohydrodynamic Wave Mode Conversion
• Statistical properties of Hα jets in the polar coronal hole and their implications in coronal activities
• On the 5-Minute Oscillations of Photospheric and Chromospheric Swirls
• A new facility for airborne solar astronomy: NASA's WB-57 at the 2017 total solar eclipse