Current sheet structure and associated small-scale flux ropes in the heliospheric magnetic field observed by Solar Orbiter

0538733 - ÚFA 2021 US eng A - Abstract
Eastwood, J. P. - Stawarz, J. E. - Souček, Jan - Štverák, Štěpán - Trávníček, P. M. … Total 35 authors
Current sheet structure and associated small-scale flux ropes in the heliospheric magnetic field observed by Solar Orbiter.
AGU Fall Meeting. American Geophysical Union, 2020. SH035-08.
[AGU Fall Meeting 2020. 01.12.2020-17.12.2020, online everywhere]
Institutional support: RVO:68378289 ; RVO:67985815
Keywords : heliosphere * solar orbiter * solar wind * heliospheric magnetic field * magnetic flux rope structures
OECD category: Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science); Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science) (ASU-R)
https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm20/webprogram/Paper668523.html

A notable feature of current sheets in the magnetosphere of Earth and other planets is the formation of flux ropes, helical magnetic field structures which are thought to play a key role in the dynamics of the current sheet and in particle acceleration models. Flux ropes are commonly produced by magnetic reconnection, and so provide insight into the time-dependent nature of the reconnection process. Reconnection is also an important target for studies of solar wind physics as it controls the topology of the heliospheric magnetic field and may also enable particle heating and acceleration. In contrast to the Earth’s magnetosphere, current sheets in the solar wind extend to very large scales, reconnection is typically large scale and relatively steady-state, and observations of flux ropes contained within solar wind current sheets are very rare, even though they are a potentially important component of many particle acceleration models. The general properties of such flux ropes are therefore poorly understood, including their prevalence and size distribution.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0316510