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Journal Articles The Astrophysical Journal Year : 2022

Patches of Magnetic Switchbacks and Their Origins

Chen Shi
  • Function : Author
Olga Panasenco
  • Function : Author
Marco Velli
  • Function : Author
Anna Tenerani
  • Function : Author
Jaye L. Verniero
  • Function : Author
Nikos Sioulas
  • Function : Author
Zesen Huang
  • Function : Author
A. Brosius
  • Function : Author
Stuart D. Bale
  • Function : Author
Kristopher Klein
  • Function : Author
Justin Kasper
  • Function : Author
Keith Goetz
  • Function : Author
Peter R. Harvey
  • Function : Author
Robert J. Macdowall
  • Function : Author
David M. Malaspina
  • Function : Author
Marc Pulupa
  • Function : Author
Davin Larson
  • Function : Author
Roberto Livi
  • Function : Author
Anthony Case
  • Function : Author
Michael Stevens
  • Function : Author

Abstract

Parker Solar Probe (PSP) has shown that the solar wind in the inner heliosphere is characterized by the quasi omnipresence of magnetic switchbacks ("switchback" hereinafter), local backward bends of magnetic field lines. Switchbacks also tend to come in patches, with a large-scale modulation that appears to have a spatial scale size comparable to supergranulation on the Sun. Here we inspect data from the first 10 encounters of PSP focusing on different time intervals when clear switchback patches were observed by PSP. We show that the switchbacks modulation, on a timescale of several hours, seems to be independent of whether PSP is near perihelion, when it rapidly traverses large swaths of longitude remaining at the same heliocentric distance, or near the radial-scan part of its orbit, when PSP hovers over the same longitude on the Sun while rapidly moving radially inwards or outwards. This implies that switchback patches must also have an intrinsically temporal modulation most probably originating at the Sun. Between two consecutive patches, the magnetic field is usually very quiescent with weak fluctuations. We compare various parameters between the quiescent intervals and the switchback intervals. The results show that the quiescent intervals are typically less Alfvénic than switchback intervals, and the magnetic power spectrum is usually shallower in quiescent intervals. We propose that the temporal modulation of switchback patches may be related to the "breathing" of emerging flux that appears in images as the formation of "bubbles" below prominences in the Hinode/SOT observations.
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insu-03776983 , version 1 (14-09-2022)

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Chen Shi, Olga Panasenco, Marco Velli, Anna Tenerani, Jaye L. Verniero, et al.. Patches of Magnetic Switchbacks and Their Origins. The Astrophysical Journal, 2022, 934, ⟨10.3847/1538-4357/ac7c11⟩. ⟨insu-03776983⟩
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