Observation of Magnetic Switchback in the Solar Corona
Abstract
Switchbacks are sudden, large radial deflections of the solar wind magnetic field, widely revealed in interplanetary space by the Parker Solar Probe. The switchbacks' formation mechanism and sources are still unresolved, although candidate mechanisms include Alfv\'enic turbulence, shear-driven Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities, interchange reconnection, and geometrical effects related to the Parker spiral. This Letter presents observations from the Metis coronagraph onboard Solar Orbiter of a single large propagating S-shaped vortex, interpreted as first evidence of a switchback in the solar corona. It originated above an active region with the related loop system bounded by open-field regions to the East and West. Observations, modeling, and theory provide strong arguments in favor of the interchange reconnection origin of switchbacks. Metis measurements suggest that the initiation of the switchback may also be an indicator of the origin of slow solar wind.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2206.03090,
title = {Observation of Magnetic Switchback in the Solar Corona},
author = {Daniele Telloni and Gary P. Zank and Marco Stangalini and Cooper Downs and Haoming Liang and Masaru Nakanotani and Vincenzo Andretta and Ester Antonucci and Luca Sorriso-Valvo and Laxman Adhikari and Lingling Zhao and Raffaele Marino and Roberto Susino and Catia Grimani and Michele Fabi and Raffaella D'Amicis and Denise Perrone and Roberto Bruno and Francesco Carbone and Salvatore Mancuso and Marco Romoli and Vania Da Deppo and Silvano Fineschi and Petr Heinzel and John D. Moses and Giampiero Naletto and Gianalfredo Nicolini and Daniele Spadaro and Luca Teriaca and Federica Frassati and Giovanna Jerse and Federico Landini and Maurizio Pancrazzi and Giuliana Russano and Clementina Sasso and David Berghmans and Frédéric Auchère and Regina Aznar Cuadrado and Lakshmi P. Chitta and Louise Harra and Emil Kraaikamp and David M. Long and Sudip Mandal and Susanna Parenti and Gabriel Pelouze and Hardi Peter and Luciano Rodriguez and Udo Schühle and Conrad Schwanitz and Phil J. Smith and Cis Verbeeck and Andrei N. Zhukov},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2206.03090},
year = {2022}
}