PLASMOID RELEASES IN THE HELIOSPHERIC CURRENT SHEET AND ASSOCIATED CORONAL HOLE BOUNDARY LAYER EVOLUTION

Journal Article · Wed Aug 10 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/737/1/16· OSTI ID:21579993

Foullon, C ^[1]; Lavraud, B; Opitz, A; Sauvaud, J -A ^[2]; Luhmann, J G ^[3]; Farrugia, C J; Simunac, K D. C.; Galvin, A B; Kucharek, H; Popecki, M ^[4]; Retino, A ^[5]; Wardle, N C

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1. Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL (United Kingdom)
2. Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie (IRAP), Universite de Toulouse (UPS) and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 5277, Toulouse (France)
3. Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, 7 Gauss Way, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
4. Space Science Center and Department of Physics, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824 (United States)
5. Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas-CNRS, Observatoire de Saint-Maur, 4 avenue de Neptune, Saint-Maur-Des-Fosses, 94107 (France)

As the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) is corotating past STEREO-B, near-Earth spacecraft ACE, Wind and Cluster, and STEREO-A over more than three days between 2008 January 10 and 14, we observe various sections of (near-pressure-balanced) flux-rope- and magnetic-island-type plasmoids in the associated heliospheric plasma sheet (HPS). The plasmoids can qualify as slow interplanetary coronal mass ejections and are relatively low proton beta (<0.5) structures, with small length scales (an order of magnitude lower than typical magnetic cloud values) and low magnetic field strengths (2-8 nT). One of them, in particular, detected at STEREO-B, corresponds to the first reported evidence of a detached plasmoid in the HPS. The in situ signatures near Earth are associated with a long-decay X-ray flare and a slow small-scale streamer ejecta, observed remotely with white-light coronagraphs aboard STEREO-B and SOHO and tracked by triangulation. Before the arrival of the HPS, a coronal hole boundary layer (CHBL) is detected in situ. The multi-spacecraft observations indicate a CHBL stream corotating with the HCS but with a decreasing speed distribution suggestive of a localized or transient nature. While we may reasonably assume that an interaction between ejecta and CHBL provides the source of momentum for the slow ejecta's acceleration, the outstanding composition properties of the CHBL near Earth provide here circumstantial evidence that this interaction or possibly an earlier one, taking place during streamer swelling when the ejecta rises slowly, results in additional mixing processes.

• OSTI ID: 21579993
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 737, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/737/1/16; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
BOUNDARY LAYERS
EVOLUTION
HELIOSPHERE
INTERACTIONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC ISLANDS
MASS
MIXING
PLASMA SHEET
PLASMOIDS
SOLAR CORONA
SOLAR WIND
ATMOSPHERES
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EARTH MAGNETOSPHERE
LAYERS
MAGNETIC FIELD CONFIGURATIONS
SOLAR ACTIVITY
SOLAR ATMOSPHERE
STELLAR ACTIVITY
STELLAR ATMOSPHERES
STELLAR CORONAE
STELLAR WINDS