In-situ switchback formation in the expanding solar wind

Abstract

Recent near-sun solar-wind observations from Parker Solar Probe have found a highly dynamic magnetic environment, permeated by abrupt radial-field reversals, or "switchbacks." We show that many features of the observed turbulence are reproduced by a spectrum of Alfvénic fluctuations advected by a radially expanding flow. Starting from simple superpositions of low-amplitude outward-propagating waves, our expanding-box compressible MHD simulations naturally develop switchbacks because (i) the normalized amplitude of waves grows due to expansion and (ii) fluctuations evolve towards spherical polarization (i.e., nearly constant field strength). These results suggest that switchbacks form in-situ in the expanding solar wind and are not indicative of impulsive processes in the chromosphere or corona.

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Cited by in corpus (78)

• Parker Solar Probe: Four Years of Discoveries at Solar Cycle Minimum
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• Shear-Driven Transition to Isotropically Turbulent Solar Wind Outside the Alfven Critical Zone
• A solar source of Alfvénic magnetic field switchbacks: {\em in situ} remnants of magnetic funnels on supergranulation scales
• Critical Science Plan for the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST)
• Violation of the zeroth law of turbulence in space plasmas
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• Switchbacks: statistical properties and deviations from alfvénicity
• The In Situ Signature of Cyclotron Resonant Heating
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• Evolution of switchbacks in the inner Heliosphere
• Observation of Magnetic Switchback in the Solar Corona
• Evolution of large-amplitude Alfvén waves and generation of switchbacks in the expanding solar wind
• Statistical analysis of orientation, shape, and size of solar wind switchbacks
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• Direct evidence for magnetic reconnection at the boundaries of magnetic switchbacks with Parker Solar Probe
• The Evolution of Inverted Magnetic Fields Through the Inner Heliosphere
• Proton Core Behaviour Inside Magnetic Field Switchbacks
• Multiscale Solar Wind Turbulence Properties inside and near Switchbacks measured by Parker Solar Probe
• Adaptive critical balance and firehose instability in an expanding, turbulent, collisionless plasma
• Reconnection-controlled decay of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence and the role of invariants
• Patches of magnetic switchbacks and their origins
• New Evidence on the Origin of Solar Wind Microstreams/Switchbacks
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• Direct observations of a complex coronal web driving highly structured slow solar wind
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• Magnetic Tornado Properties: A Substantial Contribution to the Solar Coronal Heating via Efficient Energy Transfer
• Could switchbacks originate in the lower solar atmosphere? I. Formation mechanisms of switchbacks
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• On the Generation and Evolution of Switchbacks and the Morphology of Alfvénic Transition: Low Mach-number Boundary Layers
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• Density And Velocity Fluctuations of Alpha Particles in Magnetic Switchbacks
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• Analytic Model and Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Three-dimensional Magnetic Switchbacks
• Dispersive and kinetic effects on kinked Alfvén wave packets: a comparative study with fluid and hybrid models
• Switchback Deflections Beyond the Early Parker Solar Probe Encounters
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• Solar Chromospheric Network as a Source for Solar Wind Switchbacks
• Tracing magnetic switchbacks to their source: An assessment of solar coronal jets as switchback precursors
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• Influence of the heliospheric current sheet on the evolution of solar wind turbulence
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• Domains of Magnetic Pressure Balance in Parker Solar Probe Observations of the Solar Wind
• The effect of a dynamo-generated field on the Parker wind
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• Comparing turbulent cascades and heating vs spectral anisotropy in solar wind via direct simulations
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• Magnetic reconnection as an erosion mechanism for magnetic switchbacks
• Switchbacks near Boundaries of Small-scale Magnetic Flux Ropes in the Young Solar Wind from Parker Solar Probe Observations
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• Magnetic Switchback Occurrence Rates in the Inner Heliosphere: Parker Solar Probe and 1 au
• The influence of Parker spiral on the reflection-driven turbulence
• Observations of AGN-driven feedback: dynamics and ionization of the filaments in M87