Imperial College London
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Professor Jonathan P. Eastwood

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Physics

Professor of Space Physics
 
 
 
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Contact

 

jonathan.eastwood Website

 
 
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Assistant

 

Mr Luke Kratzmann +44 (0)20 7594 7770

 
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Location

 

Huxley BuildingSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Phan:2021:0004-6361/202039863,
author = {Phan, TD and Lavraud, B S J and Halekas and Øieroset, M and Drake, JF and Eastwood, JP and Shay, MA and Bale, SD and Larson, D and Livi, R and Whittlesey, PL and Rahmati, A and Pulupa, M and McManus, MD and Verniero, JL and Bonnell, JW and Stevens, M and Case, AW},
doi = {0004-6361/202039863},
journal = {Astronomy & Astrophysics},
pages = {1--14},
title = {Prevalence of magnetic reconnection in the near-Sun heliospheric current sheet},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202039863},
volume = {650},
year = {2021}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - During three of its first five orbits around the Sun, Parker Solar Probe (PSP) crossed the large-scale Heliospheric Current Sheet (HCS)multiple times and provided unprecedented detailed plasma and field observations of the near-Sun HCS. We report the commondetections by PSP of reconnection exhaust signatures in the HCS at heliocentric distances of 29.5-107 solar radii during Encounters1, 4 and 5. Both sunward and antisunward-directed reconnection exhausts were observed. In the sunward reconnection exhausts,PSP detected counterstreaming strahl electrons, indicating that HCS reconnection resulted in the formation of closed magnetic fieldlines with both ends connected to the Sun. In the antisunward exhausts, PSP observed dropouts of strahl electrons, consistent withthe reconnected HCS field lines being disconnected from the Sun. The common detection of reconnection in the HCS suggests thatreconnection is almost always active in the HCS near the Sun. Furthermore, the occurrence of multiple long-duration partial crossingsof the HCS suggests that HCS reconnection could produce chains of large bulges with spatial dimensions of up to several solarradii. The finding of the prevalence of reconnection in the HCS is somewhat surprising since PSP has revealed that the HCS is muchthicker than the kinetic scales required for reconnection onset. The observations are also in stark contrast with the apparent absenceof reconnection in most of the small-scale and much more intense current sheets encountered near perihelia, many of which areassociated with ‘switchbacks’. Thus, the PSP findings suggest that large-scale dynamics either locally in the solar wind or within thecoronal source of the HCS (at the tip of helmet streamers) plays a critical role in triggering reconnection onset.
AU  - Phan,TD
AU  - Lavraud,B S J
AU  - Halekas
AU  - Øieroset,M
AU  - Drake,JF
AU  - Eastwood,JP
AU  - Shay,MA
AU  - Bale,SD
AU  - Larson,D
AU  - Livi,R
AU  - Whittlesey,PL
AU  - Rahmati,A
AU  - Pulupa,M
AU  - McManus,MD
AU  - Verniero,JL
AU  - Bonnell,JW
AU  - Stevens,M
AU  - Case,AW
DO  - 0004-6361/202039863
EP  - 14
PY  - 2021///
SN  - 0004-6361
SP  - 1
TI  - Prevalence of magnetic reconnection in the near-Sun heliospheric current sheet
T2  - Astronomy & Astrophysics
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202039863
UR  - https://www.aanda.org/component/article?access=doi&doi=10.1051/0004-6361/202039863
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/88330
VL  - 650
ER  -
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