The Dynamic Evolution of Solar Wind Streams Following Interchange Reconnection

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dc.citation.articleNumber72en_US
dc.citation.issueNumber1en_US
dc.citation.journalTitleThe Astrophysical Journalen_US
dc.citation.volumeNumber933en_US
dc.contributor.authorScott, Roger B.en_US
dc.contributor.authorBradshaw, Stephen J.en_US
dc.contributor.authorLinton, Mark G.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2022-08-04T14:53:20Zen_US
dc.date.available2022-08-04T14:53:20Zen_US
dc.date.issued2022en_US
dc.description.abstractInterchange reconnection is thought to play an important role in determining the dynamics and material composition of the slow solar wind that originates from near coronal-hole boundaries. To explore the implications of this process we simulate the dynamic evolution of a solar wind stream along a newly-opened magnetic flux tube. The initial condition is composed of a piecewise continuous dynamic equilibrium in which the regions above and below the reconnection site are extracted from steady-state solutions along open and closed field lines. The initial discontinuity at the reconnection site is highly unstable and evolves as a Riemann problem, decomposing into an outward-propagating shock and inward-propagating rarefaction that eventually develop into a classic N-wave configuration. This configuration ultimately propagates into the heliosphere as a coherent structure and the entire system eventually settles to a quasi-steady wind solution. In addition to simulating the fluid evolution we also calculate the time-dependent non-equilibrium ionization of oxygen in real time in order to construct in situ diagnostics of the conditions near the reconnection site. This idealized description of the plasma dynamics along a newly-opened magnetic field line provides a baseline for predicting and interpreting the implications of interchange reconnection for the slow solar wind. Notably, the density and velocity within the expanding N-wave are generally enhanced over the ambient wind, as is the O7+/O6+ ionization ratio, which exhibits a discontinuity across the reconnection site that is transported by the flow and arrives later than the propagating N-wave.en_US
dc.identifier.citationScott, Roger B., Bradshaw, Stephen J. and Linton, Mark G.. "The Dynamic Evolution of Solar Wind Streams Following Interchange Reconnection." <i>The Astrophysical Journal,</i> 933, no. 1 (2022) IOP Publishing: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac7144.en_US
dc.identifier.digitalScott_2022_ApJ_933_72en_US
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac7144en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/112967en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherIOP Publishingen_US
dc.rightsOriginal content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.en_US
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en_US
dc.titleThe Dynamic Evolution of Solar Wind Streams Following Interchange Reconnectionen_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.type.dcmiTexten_US
dc.type.publicationpublisher versionen_US
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