An official website of the United States government
Abstract We present the first joint high-resolution observations of small-scale EUV jets using Solar Orbiter (SolO)’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager and High Resolution Imager (EUI/HRIEUV) and Hαimaging from the Visible Imaging Spectrometer installed on the 1.6 m Goode Solar Telescope at the Big Bear Solar Observatory. These jets occurred on 2022 October 29 around 19:10 UT in a quiet Sun region, and their main axis aligns with the overarching magnetic structure traced by a cluster of spicules. However, they develop a helical morphology, while the Hαspicules maintain straight, linear trajectories elsewhere. Alongside the spicules, thin, elongated red- and blueshifted Hαfeatures appear to envelope the EUV jets, which we tentatively call sheath flows. The EUI jet moving upward at a speed of ∼110 km s−1is joined by a strong Hαredshift at ∼20 km s−1to form bidirectional outflows lasting ∼2 minutes. Using AI-assisted differential emission measure analysis of SolO’s Full Sun Imager, we derived total energy of the EUV jet as ∼1.9 × 1026erg with 87% in thermal energy and 13% in kinetic energy. The parameters and morphology of this small-scale EUV jet are interpreted based on a thin flux tube model that predicts Alfvénic waves driven by impulsive interchange reconnection localized as narrowly as ∼1.6 Mm with a magnetic flux of ∼5.4 × 1017Mx, belonging to the smallest magnetic features in the quiet Sun. This detection of intricate corona–chromospheric coupling highlights the power of high-resolution imaging in unraveling the mechanisms behind small-scale solar ejections across atmospheric layers.
more »
« less
This content will become publicly available on July 16, 2026
Solar Alfvénic Pulses and Mesoscale Solar Wind
Large-scale solar ejections are well understood, but the extent to which small-scale solar features directly influence the solar wind remains an open question, primarily due to the challenges of tracing these small-scale ejections and their impact. Here, we measure the fine-scale motions of network bright points along a coronal hole boundary in high-resolution Hαimages from the 1.6 m Goode Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory to quantify the agitation of open flux tubes into generating Alfvénic pulses. We combine the motion, magnetic flux, and activity duration of the flux tubes to estimate the energy content carried by individual Alfvénic pulses, which is ∼1025erg, adequately higher than the energies ∼1023erg estimated for the magnetic switchbacks observed by the Parker Solar Probe (PSP). This implies the possibility that the surface-generated Alfvénic pulses could reach the solar wind with sufficient energy to generate switchbacks, even though some of then are expected to be reflected back in the stratified solar atmosphere. Alfvénic pulses further reproduce for the first time other properties of switchbacks, including the filling factor above ∼8% at granular and supergranular scales, which correspond best to the lower end of the mesoscale structure. This quantitative result for solar energy output in the form of Alfvénic pulses through magnetic funnels provides a crucial clue to the ongoing debate about the dynamic cycle of energy exchange between the Sun and the mesoscale solar wind that has been raised, but has not been adequately addressed, by PSP near-Sun observations.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2114201
- PAR ID:
- 10648195
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Astronomical Society
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal Letters
- Volume:
- 988
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2041-8205
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- L16
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Abstract The omnipresence of transient fluctuations in the solar wind, such as switchbacks (SBs) and small-scale magnetic flux ropes (SMFRs), have been well observed by the in situ observation of Parker Solar Probe (PSP), yet their sources are not clear. Possible candidates fall into two categories: solar origin and in situ generation in the solar wind. Among the solar-origin scenarios, the small-scale activities (such as ejections and eruptions) in coronal hole (CH) regions, where solar wind originates, are suggested as candidates. Using full-disk extreme ultraviolet images from Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the Solar Dynamic Observatory, we identify small-scale ejections in CH regions during PSP Encounters 5, 7, and 8, and study their statistical properties. These ejections belong to two categories: standard jets and blowout jets. With 27,832 ejections identified in 24 days (about 2/3 of them are blowout jets), we updated the expected frequency for PSP to detect their counterparts in the heliospace. The ejections we identified are comparable to the frequency of PSP-detected SMFRs, but they are insufficient to serve as the only producer of SBs or SB patches. Certain smaller events missed by this study, such as jetlets, may fill the gap.more » « less
-
Abstract Spicules, the smallest observable jetlike dynamic features ubiquitous in the chromosphere, are supposedly an important potential source for small-scale solar wind transients, with supporting evidence yet needed. We studied the high-resolution Hαimages (0.″10) and magnetograms (0.″29) from the Big Bear Solar Observatory to find that spicules are an ideal candidate for the solar wind magnetic switchbacks detected by the Parker Solar Probe (PSP). It is not that spicules are a miniature of coronal jets, but that they have unique properties not found in other solar candidates in explaining solar origin of switchbacks. (1) The spicules under this study originate from filigrees, all in a single magnetic polarity. Since filigrees are known as footpoints of open fields, the spicule guiding field lines can form a unipolar funnel, which is needed to create an SB patch, a group of field lines that switch from one common base polarity to the other polarity. (2) The spicules come in a cluster lined up along a supergranulation boundary, and the simulated waiting times from their spatial intervals exhibit a number distribution continuously decreasing from a few seconds to ∼30 minutes, similar to that of switchbacks. (3) From a time–distance map for spicules, we estimate their occurrence rate as 0.55 spicules Mm−2s−1, which is sufficiently high for detection by PSP. In addition, the dissimilarity of spicules with coronal jets, including the absence of base brightening and low correlation with EUV emission, is briefly discussed.more » « less
-
Abstract One of the striking observations from the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) spacecraft is the prevalence in the inner heliosphere of large amplitude, Alfvénic magnetic field reversals termed switchbacks . These δ B R / B ∼ ( 1 ) fluctuations occur over a range of timescales and in patches separated by intervals of quiet, radial magnetic field. We use measurements from PSP to demonstrate that patches of switchbacks are localized within the extensions of plasma structures originating at the base of the corona. These structures are characterized by an increase in alpha particle abundance, Mach number, plasma β and pressure, and by depletions in the magnetic field magnitude and electron temperature. These intervals are in pressure balance, implying stationary spatial structure, and the field depressions are consistent with overexpanded flux tubes. The structures are asymmetric in Carrington longitude with a steeper leading edge and a small (∼1°) edge of hotter plasma and enhanced magnetic field fluctuations. Some structures contain suprathermal ions to ∼85 keV that we argue are the energetic tail of the solar wind alpha population. The structures are separated in longitude by angular scales associated with supergranulation. This suggests that these switchbacks originate near the leading edge of the diverging magnetic field funnels associated with the network magnetic field—the primary wind sources. We propose an origin of the magnetic field switchbacks, hot plasma and suprathermals, alpha particles in interchange reconnection events just above the solar transition region and our measurements represent the extended regions of a turbulent outflow exhaust.more » « less
-
Abstract The fast solar wind that fills the heliosphere originates from deep within regions of open magnetic field on the Sun called ‘coronal holes’. The energy source responsible for accelerating the plasma is widely debated; however, there is evidence that it is ultimately magnetic in nature, with candidate mechanisms including wave heating 1,2 and interchange reconnection 3–5 . The coronal magnetic field near the solar surface is structured on scales associated with ‘supergranulation’ convection cells, whereby descending flows create intense fields. The energy density in these ‘network’ magnetic field bundles is a candidate energy source for the wind. Here we report measurements of fast solar wind streams from the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) spacecraft 6 that provide strong evidence for the interchange reconnection mechanism. We show that the supergranulation structure at the coronal base remains imprinted in the near-Sun solar wind, resulting in asymmetric patches of magnetic ‘switchbacks’ 7,8 and bursty wind streams with power-law-like energetic ion spectra to beyond 100 keV. Computer simulations of interchange reconnection support key features of the observations, including the ion spectra. Important characteristics of interchange reconnection in the low corona are inferred from the data, including that the reconnection is collisionless and that the energy release rate is sufficient to power the fast wind. In this scenario, magnetic reconnection is continuous and the wind is driven by both the resulting plasma pressure and the radial Alfvénic flow bursts.more » « less
