We investigate properties of large-scale solar wind Alfvénic fluctuations and their evolution during radial expansion. We assume a strictly radial background magnetic field B∥R, and we use two-dimensional hybrid (fluid electrons, kinetic ions) simulations of balanced Alfvénic turbulence in the plane orthogonal to B; the simulated plasma evolves in a system comoving with the solar wind (i.e., in the expanding box approximation). Despite some model limitations, simulations exhibit important properties observed in the solar wind plasma: Magnetic field fluctuations evolve toward a state with low-amplitude variations in the amplitude B=|B| and tend to a spherical polarization. This is achieved in the plasma by spontaneously generating field aligned, radial fluctuations that suppress local variations of B, maintaining B∼ const. spatially in the plasma. We show that within the constraint of spherical polarization, variations in the radial component of the magnetic field, BR lead to a simple relation between δBR and δB=|δB| as δBR∼δB2/(2B), which correctly describes the observed evolution of the rms of radial fluctuations in the solar wind. During expansion, the background magnetic field amplitude decreases faster than that of fluctuations so that their the relative amplitude increases. In the regime of strong fluctuations, δB∼B, this causes local magnetic field reversals, consistent with solar wind switchbacks.
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Features of Magnetic Field Switchbacks in Relation to the Local-field Geometry of Large-amplitude Alfvénic Oscillations: Wind and PSP Observations
Abstract In this Letter, we report observations of magnetic switchback (SB) features near 1 au using data from the Wind spacecraft. These features appear to be strikingly similar to the ones observed by the Parker Solar Probe mission closer to the Sun: namely, one-sided spikes (or enhancements) in the solar-wind bulk speed V that correlate/anticorrelate with the spikes seen in the radial-field component B R . In the solar-wind streams that we analyzed, these specific SB features near 1 au are associated with large-amplitude Alfvénic oscillations that propagate outward from the Sun along a local background (prevalent) magnetic field B 0 that is nearly radial. We also show that, when B 0 is nearly perpendicular to the radial direction, the large-amplitude Alfvénic oscillations display variations in V that are two sided (i.e., V alternately increases and decreases depending on the vector Δ B = B − B 0 ). As a consequence, SBs may not always appear as one-sided spikes in V , especially at larger heliocentric distances where the local background field statistically departs from the radial direction. We suggest that SBs can be well described by large-amplitude Alfvénic fluctuations if the field rotation is computed with respect to a well-determined local background field that, in some cases, may deviate from the large-scale Parker field.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1752827
- PAR ID:
- 10401632
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal Letters
- Volume:
- 932
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 2041-8205
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- L13
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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