SH53A-2460
Coincidence of Heliospheric Current Sheet and Stream Interface: Implications for the Origin and Evolution of the Solar Wind
Friday, 18 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Jia Huang1,2, Yong Liu1, Berndt Klecker3 and Yao Chen4, (1)NSSC National Space Science Center, CAS, Beijing, China, (2)UCAS University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, College of Earth Sciences, Beijing, China, (3)Max Planck Institut for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany, (4)Shandong Univ. at Weihai, Weihai, Shandong, China
Abstract:
In general, the heliospheric current sheet (HCS), which defines the boundary of sunward and anti-sunward magnetic field, is encased by the slow solar wind; and the stream interface (SI) represents the boundary between the solar wind plasmas of different origin and/or characteristics. According to earlier studies using data of low time resolution, the SI and HCS get closer further away from the Sun, and the two structures coincide with each other around 5 AU. In this study, we make use of the STEREO data of a much higher time resolution to reveal the relative location of the SI, HCS, and the so-called True Sector Boundary (TSB) that is given by the boundary at which the suprathermal electrons change their relative propagating directions. We find the SI coincides with the HCS while the TSB is found at a distinct location. Preliminary analysis suggests that the closed loops in pseudostreamer continually have interchange reconnection with the open field lines that lead them, resulting not only the coincidence of HCS and SI but also the separation of the TSB from the HCS/SI. We therefore conclude that the interchange reconnection plays an important role at the evolution of slow solar wind.
