Bimodal distribution of the solar wind at 1 AU

Abstract

Here we aim to separate the two main contributions of slow and fast solar wind that appear at 1 AU. The Bi-Gaussian function is proposed as the probability distribution function of the two main components of the solar wind. The positions of the peaks of every simple Gaussian curve are associated with the typical values of every contribution to solar wind. We used the entire data set from the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) mission in an analysis of the data set as a whole and as yearly series. Solar cycle dependence is considered to provide more accurate results for the typical values of the different parameters. The distribution of the solar wind at 1 AU is clearly bimodal, not only for velocity, but also for proton density, temperature and magnetic field. New typical values for the main parameters of the slow and fast components of the solar wind at 1 AU are proposed.

References in corpus (4)

• Diagnosing solar wind origins using in-situ measurements in the inner heliosphere
• Solar-wind predictions for the Parker Solar Probe orbit
• Expansion of High Speed Solar Wind Streams from Coronal Holes through the Inner Heliosphere
• Probability density functions for the variable solar wind near the solar cycle minimum

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Tracing the Heliospheric Magnetic Field via Anisotropic Radio-Wave Scattering
• The distribution function of the average iron charge state at 1 AU: from a bimodal wind to ICME identification
• Drop of solar wind at the end of the 20th century
• The Heliospheric Ambipolar Potential Inferred from Sunward-Propagating Halo Electrons