Stellar mass loss rates are an important input ingredient for stellar evolution models since they determine stellar evolution parameters such as stellar spin-down and increase in stellar luminosity through the lifetime of a star. Due to the lack of direct observations of stellar winds from Sun-like stars stellar X-ray luminosity and stellar level of activity are commonly used as a proxy for estimating stellar mass loss rates. However, such an intuitive activity --- mass loss rate relation is not well defined. In this paper, I study the mass loss rate of the Sun as a function of its activity level. I compare in-situ solar wind measurements with the solar activity level represented by the solar X-ray flux. I find no clear dependency of the solar mass flux on solar X-ray flux. Instead, the solar mass loss rate is scattered around an average value of $2\cdot10^{-14}\;M_\odot\;yr^{-1}$. This independency of the mass loss rate on level of activity can be explained by the fact that the activity level is governed by the large modulations in the solar close magnetic flux, while the mass loss rate is governed by the rather constant open magnetic flux. I derive a simple expression for stellar mass loss rates as a function of the stellar ambient weak magnetic field, the stellar radius, the stellar escape velocity, and the average height of the Alfvén surface. This expression predicts stellar mass loss rates of $10^{-15}-10^{-12}\;M_\odot\;yr^{-1}$ for Sun-like stars.
We focus on the connection between the internal dynamo magnetic field and the stellar wind. If the star has a cyclic dynamo, the modulations of the magnetic field can affect the wind, which in turn can back-react on the boundary conditions of the star, creating a feedback loop. We have developed a 2.5-dimensional numerical set-up to model this essential coupling. We have implemented an alpha-Omega mean-field dynamo in the PLUTO code, and then coupled it to a spherical polytropic wind model via an interface composed of four grid layers with dedicated boundary conditions. We present here a dynam…
In solar cycles 23-24, solar activity noticeably decreased, and, as a result, solar wind parameters decreased. Based on the measurements of the OMNI base for the period 1976-2019, the time profiles of the main solar wind parameters and magnetospheric indices for the main interplanetary drivers of magnetospheric disturbances (solar wind types CIR, Sheath, ejecta and MC) are studied using the double superposed epoch method. The main task of the research is to compare time profiles for the epoch of high solar activity at 21-22 solar cycles and the epoch of low activity at 23-24 solar cycles. The …
Minimising magnetic activity effects in PLATO observations: insights from the Sun-as-a-star
Uppsala University（乌普萨拉大学）；University of Warwick（华威大学）；INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania（意大利国家天体物理研究所卡塔尼亚天文台）；Université Paris Cité（巴黎西岱大学）；Université Paris-Saclay（巴黎萨克雷大学）；CEA（法国原子能和替代能源委员会）；CNRS（法国国家科学研究中心）；Imperial College London（伦敦帝国理工学院）
The solar activity displays variability and periodic behaviours over a wide range of timescales, with the presence of a most prominent cycle with a mean length of 11 years. Such variability is transported within the heliosphere by solar wind, radiation and other processes, affecting the properties of the interplanetary medium. The presence of solar activity-related periodicities is well visible in different solar wind and geomagnetic indices, although with time lags with respect to the solar one, leading to hysteresis cycles. Here, we investigate the time lag behaviour between a physical proxy…
Comparison is carried out of the long term variation of the year averaged solar wind speed and interplanetary scintillation index with the variations of Wolf's numbers and A_P indexes of geomagnetic activity for the data of 20-24 solar activity cycles. It is shown that the slow non-monotonous trend in the scintillation parameters at middle and high heliolatitudes exists with the typical scale of order of century cycle. Correlation between the variations of Wolf's numbers and anomalies of the air temperature is analyzed for long data series from 1610 up to the present time. Possible application…
High resolution UV spectra of stellar H I Lyman-alpha lines from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) provide observational constraints on the winds of coronal main sequence stars, thanks to an astrospheric absorption signature created by the interaction between the stellar winds and the interstellar medium. We report the results of a new HST survey of M dwarf stars, yielding six new detections of astrospheric absorption. We estimate mass-loss rates for these detections, and upper limits for nondetections. These new constraints allow us to characterize the nature of M dwarf winds and their depende…
Interactions between the winds of stars and the magnetospheres and atmospheres of planets involve many processes, including the acceleration of particles, heating of upper atmospheres, and a diverse range of atmospheric loss processes. Winds remove angular momentum from their host stars causing rotational spin-down and a decay in magnetic activity, which protects atmospheres from erosion. While wind interactions are strongly influenced by the X-ray and ultraviolet activity of the star and the chemical composition of the atmosphere, the role of planetary magnetic fields is unclear. In this chap…
The correlation scale and the Taylor scale are evaluated for interplanetary magnetic field fluctuations from two-point, single time correlation function using the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), Wind, and Cluster spacecraft data during the time period from 2001 to 2017, which covers over an entire solar cycle. The correlation scale and the Taylor scale are respectively compared with the sunspot number to investigate the effects of solar activity on the structure of the plasma turbulence. Our studies show that the Taylor scale increases with the increasing sunspot number, which indicates t…
Near-Sun Switchbacks Show Statistical Signatures of Solar Activity
Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics（大学间天文与天体物理中心）；International Space Science Institute（国际空间科学研究所）；LPC2E, OSUC, Univ Orleans, CNRS, CNES（地球与行星物理学实验室，观测宇宙学与气候环境统一研究组织，奥尔良大学，法国国家科学研究中心，法国国家太空研究中心）；SETI Institute（搜寻地外文明研究所）；Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory（洛克希德·马丁太阳与天体物理实验室）
We present EUV solar observations showing evidence for omnipresent jetting activity driven by small-scale magnetic reconnection at the base of the solar corona. We argue that the physical mechanism that heats and drives the solar wind at its source is ubiquitous magnetic reconnection in the form of small-scale jetting activity (i.e., a.k.a. jetlets). This jetting activity, like the solar wind and the heating of the coronal plasma, are ubiquitous regardless of the solar cycle phase. Each event arises from small-scale reconnection of opposite polarity magnetic fields producing a short-lived jet …
Hot Jupiters (HJs) are massive gaseous planets orbiting close to their host stars. Due to their physical characteristics and proximity to the central star, HJs are the natural laboratories to study the process of star-planet interaction (SPI). Phenomena related to SPI may include the inflation and the evaporation of planetary atmospheres, the formation of cometary tails and bow shocks and magnetospheric interaction between the magnetic field of the planet and that of the star. Several works suggest that some systems show enhanced stellar activity in phase with the planetary rotation period. In…
Active nests at solar maximum: How nested flux emergence dominated flaring activity and structured the heliosphere
European Space Agency, ESTEC（欧洲航天局，欧洲空间研究与技术中心）；Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité, CEA, CNRS, AIM（巴黎萨克雷大学，巴黎西岱大学，法国原子能和替代能源委员会，法国国家科学研究中心，天体物理信息研究所）
Probing Coronal Activity Using Radio Signals Based on the 2021 superior conjunction of Mars: the Downlink Data from Tianwen-1
National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家天文台）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）；Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP)（波茨坦阿纳伯格天文研究所）；Southeast University（东南大学）
Ulysses data obtained at high solar latitudes during periods of minimum solar activity in 1994 and 2007 are examined to determine the relation between velocity structures called microstreams and folds in the magnetic field called switchbacks. A high correlation is found. The possibility of velocity peaks in microstreams originating from coronal X-ray jets is re-examined; we now suggest that microstreams are the consequence of the alternation of patches of switchbacks and quiet periods, where the switchbacks could be generated by minifilament/flux rope eruptions that cause coronal jets.
Understanding the mechanism(s) of the solar wind acceleration is important in astrophysics and geophysics. A promising model of the solar wind acceleration is known as the wave/turbulence-driven (WTD) model, in which Alfvén waves feed energy to the solar wind. In this study, we tested the WTD model with global measurement of wind speed from interplanetary scintillation (IPS) observations. For Carrington rotations in minimal and maximal activity phases, we selected field lines calculated by the potential-field source-surface method in high- and mid-latitudes and compared the simulated and obser…
How has the solar wind evolved to reach what it is today? In this review, I discuss the long-term evolution of the solar wind, including the evolution of observed properties that are intimately linked to the solar wind: rotation, magnetism and activity. Given that we cannot access data from the solar wind 4 billion years ago, this review relies on stellar data, in an effort to better place the Sun and the solar wind in a stellar context. I overview some clever detection methods of winds of solar-like stars, and derive from these an observed evolutionary sequence of solar wind mass-loss rates. …
