Increasingly one interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) structure can propagate across more than one spacecraft in the solar wind. This usually happens when two or more spacecraft are nearly radially aligned with a relatively small longitudinal separation angle from one another. This provides multi-point measurements of the same structure and enables better characterization and validation of modeling results of the structures embedded in these ICMEs. We report such an event during October 13-14, 2019 when the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory Ahead (STA) spacecraft and the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) crossed one ICME structure at two different locations with nominal separations in both heliocentric distances and the longitudinal angles. We first perform an optimal fitting to the STA in-situ measurements, based on an analytic quasi-three dimensional (3D) model, yielding a minimum reduced χ 2 = 0.468. Then we further apply the optimization approach by combining the magnetic field measurements from both spacecraft along their separate paths across the ICME structure. We find that the output based on the optimization (with the minimum reduced χ 2 = 3.15) of the combined two-spacecraft dataset yields a more consistent result, given the much improved agreement of the model output with PSP data. The result demonstrates a magnetic flux rope configuration with clear 3D spatial variations.
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Magnetic flux rope: What is it?
Abstract Magnetic flux rope, a type of magnetic field structure in space plasmas, has been studied for decades through both observational and theoretical means. We provide a brief report on our recent modeling study of its magnetic field configuration based on in-situ spacecraft measurements, focusing on those made for large-scale flux ropes in the interplanetary space. We illustrate the complexity in its field-line topology by presenting two event studies employing a unique analysis method. In particular, we demonstrate the feasibility and challenges for the approach to use two or more in-situ spacecraft datasets. We discuss the implications of our results and offer some thoughts on further advancing the investigation of the nature of the magnetic flux rope.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2020703
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10438110
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Physics: Conference Series
- Volume:
- 2544
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1742-6588
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 012002
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract One
strong magnetic cloud (MC) with a magnetic field magnitude reaching ∼40 nT at 1 au during 2012 June 16–17 is examined in association with a preexisting magnetic flux rope (MFR) identified on the Sun. The MC is characterized by a quasi-three-dimensional (3D) flux rope model based on in situ measurements from the Wind spacecraft. The contents of the magnetic flux and other parameters are quantified. In addition, a correlative study with the corresponding measurements of the same structure crossed by the Venus Express (VEX) spacecraft at a heliocentric distance of 0.7 au and with an angular separation of ∼6° in longitude is performed to validate the MC modeling results. The spatial variation between the Wind and VEX magnetic field measurements is attributed to the 3D configuration of the structure appearing as a knotted bundle of flux. A comparison of the magnetic flux contents between the MC and the preexisting MFR on the Sun indicates that the 3D reconnection process accompanying an M1.9 flare may correspond to the magnetic reconnection between the field lines of the preexisting MFR rooted in the opposite polarity footpoints. Such a process reduces the amount of the axial magnetic flux in the erupted flux rope, by approximately 50%, in this case. -
Understanding the nature and characteristics of high-frequency waves inside a flux rope may be important as the wave-particle interaction is important for charged-particle energization and the ensuing dissipation process. We analyze waves generated by an electron beam in a crater-shaped magnetic flux rope observed by MMS spacecraft on the dawnside tailward magnetopause. In this MMS observation, a depression of magnetic field, or a crater, of ∼100 km is located at the center of the magnetic flux rope of ∼650 km. There exist parallel and perpendicular electrostatic wave modes inside the depression of the magnetic field at the center of the flux rope, and they are distinguished by their locations and frequencies. The parallel mode exists at the center of the magnetic depression and its power spectrum peaks below F ce (electron cyclotron frequency). In contrast, the perpendicular mode exists in the outer region associated with the magnetic depression, and its power spectrum peaks near F ce . The linear analysis of kinetic instability using a generalized dispersion solver shows that the parallel mode can be generated by the electron beam of 5,000 km/s. They can thermalize electrons ≲100 eV effectively. However, the generation mechanism of the perpendicular mode is not clear yet, which requires further study.more » « less
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Abstract We present an analysis of in situ and remote-sensing measurements of a coronal mass ejection (CME) that erupted on 2021 February 20 and impacted both the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO)-A and the Wind spacecraft, which were separated longitudinally by 55°. Measurements on 2021 February 24 at both spacecraft are consistent with the passage of a magnetic ejecta (ME), making this one of the widest reported multispacecraft ME detections. The CME is associated with a low-inclined and wide filament eruption from the Sun’s southern hemisphere, which propagates between STEREO-A and Wind around E34. At STEREO-A, the measurements indicate the passage of a moderately fast (∼425 km s−1) shock-driving ME, occurring 2–3 days after the end of a high speed stream (HSS). At Wind, the measurements show a faster (∼490 km s−1) and much shorter ME, not preceded by a shock nor a sheath, and occurring inside the back portion of the HSS. The ME orientation measured at both spacecraft is consistent with a passage close to the legs of a curved flux rope. The short duration of the ME observed at Wind and the difference in the suprathermal electron pitch-angle data between the two spacecraft are the only results that do not satisfy common expectations. We discuss the consequence of these measurements on our understanding of the CME shape and extent and the lack of clear signatures of the interaction between the CME and the HSS.
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Aims. We analyse particle, radio, and X-ray observations during the first relativistic proton event of solar cycle 25 detected on Earth. The aim is to gain insight into the relationship between relativistic solar particles detected in space and the processes of acceleration and propagation in solar eruptive events. Methods. To this end, we used ground-based neutron monitor measurements of relativistic nucleons and space-borne measurements of electrons with similar speed to determine the arrival times of the first particles at 1 AU and to infer their solar release times. We compared the release times with the time histories of non-thermal electrons in the solar atmosphere and their escape to interplanetary space, as traced by radio spectra and X-ray light curves and images. Results. Non-thermal electrons in the corona are found to be accelerated in different regions. Some are confined in closed magnetic structures expanding during the course of the event. Three episodes of electron escape to the interplanetary space are revealed by groups of decametric-to-kilometric type III bursts. The first group appears on the low-frequency side of a type II burst produced by a coronal shock wave. The two latter groups are accompanied at higher frequencies by bursts with rapid drifts to both lower and higher frequencies (forward- or reverse-drifting bursts). They are produced by electron beams that propagate both sunward and anti-sunward. The first relativistic electrons and nucleons observed near Earth are released with the third group of type III bursts, more than ten minutes after the first signatures of non-thermal electrons and of the formation of the shock wave in the corona. Although the eruptive active region is near the central meridian, several tens of degrees east of the footpoint of the nominal Parker spiral to the Earth, the kilometric spectrum of the type III bursts and the in situ detection of Langmuir waves demonstrate a direct magnetic connection between the L1 Lagrange point and the field lines onto which the electron beams are released at the Sun. Conclusions. We interpret the forward- and reverse-drifting radio bursts as evidence of reconnection between the closed expanding magnetic structures of an erupting flux rope and ambient open magnetic field lines. We discuss the origin of relativistic particles near the Earth across two scenarios: (1) acceleration at the CME-driven shock as it intercepts interplanetary magnetic field lines rooted in the western solar hemisphere and (2) an alternative where the relativistic particles are initially confined in the erupting magnetic fields and get access to the open field lines to the Earth through these reconnection events.more » « less
