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Related papers: Switchbacks: statistical properties and deviations…

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The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) spacecraft is performing the first in situ exploration of the solar wind within 0.2 au of the Sun. Initial observations confirmed the Alfv\'enic nature of aligned fluctuations of the magnetic field B and…

The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission has revealed frequent occurrences of switchbacks (SBs) and small-scale magnetic flux ropes (SMFRs) as prominent structures within the solar wind. These mesoscale features are observed across all…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2025-07-02 Kyung-Eun Choi , Oleksiy V. Agapitov , Dae-Young Lee , Forrest Mozer , Jia Huang , Lucas Colomban , Jaye L. Verniero , Nour Raouafi

We analyze magnetic field data from the first six encounters of PSP, three Helios fast streams and two Ulysses south polar passes covering heliocentric distances $0.1\lesssim R\lesssim 3$ au. We use this data set to statistically determine…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2021-10-13 Anna Tenerani , Nikos Sioulas , Lorenzo Matteini , Olga Panasenco , Chen Shi , Marco Velli

Parker Solar Probe (PSP) observed sub-Alfvenic solar wind intervals during encounters 8 - 14, and low-frequency magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in these regions may differ from that in super-Alfvenic wind. We apply a new mode-decomposition…

Switchbacks (SBs) are localized magnetic field deflections in the solar wind, marked by abrupt changes in the magnetic field direction relative to the ambient solar wind. Observations onboard Parker Solar Probe (PSP) at heliocentric…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2025-07-03 Kyung-Eun Choi , Oleksiy V. Agapitov , Nina Bizien , Thierry Dudok De Wit , Lucas Colomban

Alfv\'enic fluctuations are very common features in the solar wind and are found especially within the main portion of fast wind streams while the slow wind usually is less Alfv\'enic and more variable. In general, fast and slow wind show…

Space Physics · Physics 2018-12-19 Raffaella D'Amicis , Lorenzo Matteini , Roberto Bruno

Parker Solar Probe (PSP) has shown that the solar wind in the inner heliosphere is characterized by the quasi omni-presence of magnetic switchbacks ("switchback" hereinafter), local backward-bends of magnetic field lines. Switchbacks also…

Measurements of transverse magnetic field and velocity components from Parker Solar Probe have revealed a coherent quasi-periodic pattern in the near-Sun solar wind. As well as being Alfv\'enic and arc-polarised, these deflections were…

Space Physics · Physics 2023-09-26 R. Laker , T. S. Horbury , L. D. Woodham , S. D. Bale , L. Matteini

The subject of switchbacks, defined either as large angular deflections or polarity reversals of the magnetic field, has generated substantial interest in the space physics community since the launch of Parker Solar Probe (PSP) in 2018.…

Context. Recent spacecraft observations in the inner heliosphere have revealed the presence of local Alfvenic reversals of the magnetic field, while the field magnitude remains almost constant. They are called magnetic switchbacks and are…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2023-09-13 F. Malara , S. Perri , J. Giacalone , G. Zimbardo

In the lower solar coronal regions where the magnetic field is dominant, the Alfven speed is much higher than the wind speed. In contrast, the near-Earth solar wind is strongly super-Alfvenic, i.e., the wind speed greatly exceeds the Alfven…

The solar wind is found by Parker Solar Probe (PSP) to be abundant with Alfv\'enic velocity spikes and magnetic field kinks. Temperature enhancement is another remarkable feature associated with the Alfv\'enic spikes. How the prototype of…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2023-01-11 Jiansen He , Xingyu Zhu , Liping Yang , Chuanpeng Hou , Die Duan , Lei Zhang , Ying Wang

Magnetic fluctuations in the solar wind are often observed to maintain constant magnitude of the magnetic field in a manner consistent with spherically-polarized large-amplitude Alfv\'en waves. We investigate the effect of spherical…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2023-11-17 Corina Dunn , Trevor Bowen , Alfred Mallet , Samuel Badman , Stuart Bale

Turbulence in the solar wind is characterized by Alfv\'enic fluctuations that exhibit spherical polarization, a geometric condition resulting in the nearly constant magnitude of the magnetic field. This property persists even during the…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2026-05-07 Anna Tenerani , Marco Velli

The origin of large-amplitude magnetic field deflections in the solar wind, known as magnetic switchbacks, is still under debate. These structures, which are ubiquitous in the observations made by Parker Solar Probe, likely have their seed…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2025-01-22 Nina Bizien , Clara Froment , Maria S. Madjarska , Thierry Dudok de Wit , Marco Velli

We investigate the orientation of the magnetic field deflections in switchbacks (SB) to determine if they are characterised by a possible preferential orientation. We compute the deflection angles of the magnetic field relative to the…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2022-07-20 Naïs Fargette , Benoit Lavraud , Alexis P. Rouillard , Victor Réville , Stuart D. Bale , Justin Kasper

In its first encounter at solar distances as close as r = 0.16AU, Parker Solar Probe (PSP) observed numerous local reversals, or inversions, in the heliospheric magnetic field (HMF), which were accompanied by large spikes in solar wind…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2021-01-06 Allan R Macneil , Mathew J Owens , Robert T Wicks , Mike Lockwood

Although the origins of slow solar wind are unclear, there is increasing evidence that at least some of it is released in a steady state on over-expanded coronal hole magnetic field lines. This type of slow wind has similar properties to…

Space Physics · Physics 2020-01-28 D. Stansby , L. Matteini , T. S. Horbury , D. Perrone , R. D'Amicis , L. Berčič

We consider 2D joint distributions of normalised residual energy $\sigma_r(s,t)$ and cross helicity $\sigma_c(s,t)$ during one day of Parker Solar Probe's (PSP's) first encounter as a function of wavelet scale $s$. The broad features of the…

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…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2025-07-18 Jeongwoo Lee , Manolis K. Georgoulis , Rahul Sharma , Nour E. Raouafi , Qin Li , Haimin Wang