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The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission presents a unique opportunity to study the near-Sun solar wind closer than any previous spacecraft. During its fourth and fifth solar encounters, PSP had the same orbital trajectory, meaning that solar…

We examine the statistics of Alfvenic deflections in both sub-Alfvenic and super-Alfvenic solar wind with particular focus on a common parameter that underlies the definition of switchbacks: the magnetic deflection angle. Our findings are…

Alfv\'en waves, considered one of the primary candidates for heating and accelerating the fast solar wind, are ubiquitous in spacecraft observations, yet their origin remains elusive. In this study, we analyze data from the first 19…

Parker Solar Probe's (PSP) discovery of the prevalence of switchbacks (SBs), localised magnetic deflections in the nascent solar wind, has sparked interest in uncovering their origins. A prominent theory suggests these SBs originate in the…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2024-12-23 Jade Touresse , Etienne Pariat , Clara Froment , Valentin Aslanyan , Peter F. Wyper , Louis Seyfritz

A major discovery of Parker Solar Probe (PSP) was the presence of large numbers of localized increases in the radial solar wind speed and associated sharp deflections of the magnetic field - switchbacks (SB). A possible generation mechanism…

We identify more than ten steady sub-Alfv\'enic solar wind intervals from the measurements of the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) from encounter 8 to encounter 14. An analysis of these sub-Alfv\'enic intervals reveals similar properties and…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2023-12-05 Yiming Jiao , Ying D. Liu , Hao Ran , Wenshuai Cheng

Data obtained from Parker Solar Probe (PSP) since 2021 April have shown the first in situ observation of the solar corona, where the solar wind is formed and accelerated. Here we investigate the alpha-proton differential flow and its…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2024-01-22 Hao Ran , Ying D. Liu , Chong Chen , Parisa Mostafavi

One of the main discoveries from the first two orbits of Parker Solar Probe (PSP) was the presence of magnetic switchbacks, whose deflections dominated the magnetic field measurements. Determining their shape and size could provide evidence…

Parker Solar Probe observations reveal that the near-Sun space is almost filled with magnetic switchbacks (``switchbacks'' hereinafter), which may be a major contributor to the heating and acceleration of solar wind. Here, for the first…

During Parker Solar Probe's first orbit, the solar wind plasma has been observed in situ closer than ever before, the perihelion on November 6th 2018 revealing a flow that is constantly permeated by large amplitude Alfv\'enic fluctuations.…

\textit{Parker Solar Probe} has shown the ubiquitous presence of strong magnetic field deflections, namely switchbacks, during its first perihelion where it was embedded in a highly Alfv\'enic slow stream. Here, we study the turbulent…

Magnetic switchbacks, large-amplitude, localized Alfvenic like rotations of the solar wind magnetic field, have been the subject of intensive investigation, with approximately 200 refereed papers published in the last decade. Yet,…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2026-05-15 Forrest Mozer , Oleksiy Agapitov , Kyung-Eun Choi , Richard Sydora

We report observations of solar wind turbulence derived from measurements by the Parker Solar Probe. Our findings reveal the emergence of finite magnetic helicity within the transition range of the turbulence, aligning with signatures of…

Magnetic switchbacks are localised polarity reversals in the radial component of the heliospheric magnetic field. Observations from Parker Solar Probe (PSP) have shown that they are a prevalent feature of the near-Sun solar wind. However,…

Space Physics · Physics 2023-07-19 G. H. H. Suen , C. J. Owen , D. Verscharen , T. S. Horbury , P. Louarn , R. De Marco

The origin of switchbacks in the solar wind is discussed in two classes of theory that differ in the location of the source being either in the transition region near the Sun or in the solar wind, itself. The two classes of theory differ in…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2021-10-04 Forrest S. Mozer , Stuart Bale , John Bonnell , James Drake , Elizabeth Hanson , Michael C. Mozer

Magnetic switchbacks are of continuing interest to the scientific community due to the fact that the phenomenon has not been completely understood. Although most of the research into them in the Parker Solar Probe era has largely focused on…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2025-09-04 Emily McDougall , Bala Poduval

We present the first statistical study of the anisotropy of the magnetic field turbulence in the solar wind between 1 and 200Hz, i.e. from proton to sub-electron scales. We consider 93 10-minute intervals of Cluster/STAFF measurements. We…

Space Physics · Physics 2017-10-18 Catherine Lacombe , Olga Alexandrova , Lorenzo Matteini

The Parker Solar Probe mission provides a unique opportunity to characterize several features of the solar wind at different heliocentric distances. Recent findings have shown a transition in the inertial range spectral and scaling…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2022-11-30 Tommaso Alberti , Simone Benella , Giuseppe Consolini , Mirko Stumpo , Roberto Benzi

We discuss properties of Alfv\'enic fluctuations with large amplitude in plasmas characterised by low magnetic field compression. We note that in such systems power laws can not develop with arbitrarily steep slopes at large scales, i.e.…

Space Physics · Physics 2018-12-26 Lorenzo Matteini , David Stansby , Timothy Horbury , Christopher H. K. Chen

Although the interplanetary magnetic field variability has been extensively investigated in situ by means of data coming from several space missions, the newly launched missions providing high-resolution measures and approaching the Sun,…