Small-scale magnetic flux ropes (SFRs), in the solar wind, have been studied for decades. Statistical analysis utilizing various in situ spacecraft measurements is the main observational approach which helps investigate the generation and evolution of these small-scale structures. Based on the Grad-Shafranov (GS) reconstruction technique, we use the automated detection algorithm to build the databases of these small-scale structures via various spacecraft measurements at different heliocentric distances. We present the SFR properties including the magnetic field and plasma parameters at different radial distances from the sun near the ecliptic plane. It is found that the event occurrence rate is still in the order of a few hundreds per month, the duration and scale size distributions follow power laws, and the flux rope axis orientations are approximately centered around the local Parker spiral directions. In general, most SFR properties exhibit radial decays. In addition, with various databases established, we derive scaling laws for the changes of average field magnitude, event counts, and SFR scale sizes, with respect to the radial distances, ranging from $\sim$ 0.3 au for Helios to $\sim$ 7 au for the Voyager spacecraft. The implications of our results for comparisons with the relevant theoretical works and for the application to the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission are discussed.
We present unique {and additional} observational evidence for the self-generation of small-scale coherent magnetic flux rope structures in the solar wind. Such structures with durations between 9 and 361 minutes are identified from Wind in-situ spacecraft measurements through the Grad-Shafranov (GS) reconstruction approach. The event occurrence counts are on the order of 3,500 per year on average and have a clear solar cycle dependence. We build a database of small-scale magnetic flux ropes from twenty-year worth of Wind spacecraft data. We show a power-law distribution of the wall-to-wall tim…
The structure of magnetic flux ropes injected into the solar wind during reconnection in the coronal atmosphere is explored with particle-in-cell simulations and compared with in situ measurements of magnetic "switchbacks" from the Parker Solar Probe. We suggest that multi-x-line reconnection between open and closed flux in the corona injects flux ropes into the solar wind and that these flux ropes convect outward over long distances before eroding due to reconnection. Simulations that explore the magnetic structure of flux ropes in the solar wind reproduce the following key features of the sw…
Small-scale magnetic flux ropes, in the solar wind, have been studied for decades via the approach of both simulation and observation. Statistical analysis utilizing various in-situ spacecraft measurements is the main observational approach. In this study, we extend the automated detection of small-scale flux ropes based on the Grad-Shafranov reconstruction to the complete dataset of \emph{Ulysses} spacecraft in-situ measurements. We first discuss the temporal variation of the bulk properties of 22,719 flux ropes found through our approach, namely, the average magnetic field and plasma paramet…
Sheath regions of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) are formed when the upstream solar wind is deflected and compressed due to the propagation and expansion of the ICME. Small-scale flux ropes found in the solar wind can thus be swept into ICME-driven sheath regions. They may also be generated locally within the sheaths through a range of processes. This work applies wavelet analysis to obtain the normalized reduced magnetic helicity, normalized cross helicity, and normalized residual energy, and uses them to identify small-scale flux ropes and Alfvén waves in 55 ICME-driven sheath…
Interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) are a significant feature of the heliospheric environment and the primary cause of adverse space weather at the Earth. ICME propagation, and the evolution of ICME magnetic field structure during propagation, are still not fully understood. We analyze the magnetic field structures of 18 ICME magnetic flux ropes observed by radially aligned spacecraft in the inner heliosphere. Similarity in the underlying flux rope structures is determined through the application of a simple technique that maps the magnetic field profile from one spacecraft to the ot…
Small-scale magnetic flux ropes (SFRs) are a type of structures in the solar wind that possess helical magnetic field lines. In a recent report (Chen & Hu 2020), we presented the radial variations of the properties of SFR from 0.29 to 8 au using in situ measurements from the Helios, ACE/Wind, Ulysses, and Voyager spacecraft. With the launch of the Parker Solar Probe (PSP), we extend our previous investigation further into the inner heliosphere. We apply a Grad-Shafranov-based algorithm to identify SFRs during the first two PSP encounters. We find that the number of SFRs detected near the Sun i…
Goucher College（古彻学院）；NASA Goddard Space Flight Center（美国国家航空航天局戈达德太空飞行中心）；ADNET Systems Inc.（ADNET系统公司）；University of Colorado（科罗拉多大学）
Geomagnetic disturbance forecasting is based on the identification of solar wind structures and accurate determination of their magnetic field orientation. For nowcasting activities, this is currently a tedious and manual process. Focusing on the main driver of geomagnetic disturbances, the twisted internal magnetic field of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), we explore a convolutional neural network's (CNN) ability to predict the embedded magnetic flux rope's orientation once it has been identified from in situ solar wind observations. Our work uses CNNs trained with magnetic fiel…
Interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) contain magnetic field and velocity fluctuations across a wide range of scales. These fluctuations may be interpreted as Alfvénic wave packets propagating parallel or anti-parallel to the background magnetic field, with the difference in power between counter-propagating fluxes quantified by the cross helicity. We have determined the cross helicity of inertial range fluctuations at $10^{-3}-10^{-2}$ Hz in 226 ICME flux ropes and 176 ICME sheaths observed by the Wind spacecraft at 1 au during 1995-2015. The flux ropes and sheaths had mean, normalise…
We report on a study comparing coronal flux ropes inferred from eruption data with their interplanetary counterparts constructed from in situ data. The eruption data include the source-region magnetic field, post-eruption arcades, and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Flux ropes were fit to the interplanetary CMEs (ICMEs) considered for the 2011 and 2012 Coordinated Data Analysis Workshops (CDAWs). We computed the total reconnected flux involved in each of the associated solar eruptions and found it to be closely related to flare properties, CME kinematics, and ICME properties. By fitting flux ro…
Magnetic flux rope, formed by the helical magnetic field lines, can sometimes remain its shape while carrying significant plasma flow that is aligned with the local magnetic field. We report the existence of such structures and static flux ropes by applying the Grad-Shafranov-based algorithm to the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) in-situ measurements in the first five encounters. These structures are detected at heliocentric distances, ranging from 0.13 to 0.66 au, in a total of 4-month time period. We find that flux ropes with field-aligned flows, although occur more frequently, have certain propert…
We systematically search for magnetic flux rope structures in the solar wind to within the closest distance to the Sun of 0.13 AU, using data from the third and fourth orbits of the Parker Solar Probe. We extend our previous magnetic helicity based technique of identifying magnetic flux rope structures. The method is improved upon to incorporate the azimuthal flow, which becomes larger as the spacecraft approaches the Sun. A total of 21 and 34 magnetic flux ropes are identified during the third (21 days period) and fourth (17 days period) orbits of the Parker Solar Probe, respectively. We prov…
We analyze multi-spacecraft observations associated with the 2012 July 12 Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), covering the source region on the Sun from SDO, stereoscopic imaging observations from STEREO, magnetic field characteristics at MESSENGER, and type II radio burst and in situ measurements from Wind. A triangulation method based on STEREO stereoscopic observations is employed to determine the kinematics of the CME, and the outcome is compared with the result derived from the type II radio burst with a solar wind electron density model. A Grad-Shafranov technique is applied to Wind in situ dat…
One "strong" magnetic cloud (MC) with the magnetic field magnitude reaching $\sim$ 40 nT at 1 au during 2012 June 16-17 is examined in association with a pre-existing magnetic flux rope (MFR) identified on the Sun. The MC is characterized by a quasi-three dimensional (3D) flux rope model based on in situ measurements from the Wind spacecraft. The magnetic flux contents and other parameters are quantified. In addition, a correlative study with the corresponding measurements of the same structure crossed by the Venus Express (VEX) spacecraft at a heliocentric distance 0.7 au and with an angular …
We present a comprehensive analysis of the three-dimensional magnetic flux rope structure generated during the Lynch et al. (2019) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of a global-scale, 360 degree-wide streamer blowout coronal mass ejection (CME) eruption. We create both fixed and moving synthetic spacecraft to generate time series of the MHD variables through different regions of the flux rope CME. Our moving spacecraft trajectories are derived from the spatial coordinates of Parker Solar Probe's past encounters 7 and 9 and future encounter 23. Each synthetic time series through the simulati…
Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are intense solar explosive eruptions. CMEs are highly important players in solar-terrestrial relationships, and they have important consequences for major geomagnetic storms and energetic particle events. It has been unclear how CMEs evolve when they propagate in the heliosphere. Here we report an interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) consisting of multiple magnetic flux ropes measured by WIND on March 25-26, 1998. These magnetic flux ropes were merging with each other. The observations indicate that internal interactions (reconnections) within multi-flux-r…
We present observations of the same magnetic cloud made near Earth by the Advance Composition Explorer (ACE), Wind, and the Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon's Interaction with the Sun (ARTEMIS) mission comprising the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) B and THEMIS C spacecraft, and later by Juno at a distance of 1.2 AU. The spacecraft were close to radial alignment throughout the event, with a longitudinal separation of $3.6^{\circ}$ between Juno and the spacecraft near Earth. The magnetic cloud likely originated f…
Observations of magnetic clouds, within interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), are often well described by flux rope models. Most of these assume either a cylindrical or toroidal geometry. In some cases, these models are also capable of accounting for non-axisymmetric crosssections but they generally all assume axial invariance. It can be expected that any ICME, and its flux rope, will be deformed along its axis due to influences such as the solar wind. In this work, we aim to develop a writhed analytical magnetic flux rope model which would allow us to analytically describe a flux rop…
Our understanding of processes occurring in the heliosphere historically began with reduced dimensionality - one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) sketches and models, which aimed to illustrate views on large-scale structures in the solar wind. However, any reduced dimensionality vision of the heliosphere limits the possible interpretations of in-situ observations. Accounting for non-planar structures, e.g. current sheets, magnetic islands, flux ropes as well as plasma bubbles, is decisive to shed the light on a variety of phenomena, such as particle acceleration and energy dissipation…
Magnetic clouds (MCs) are the interplanetary counterparts of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and usually modeled by a flux rope. By assuming the quasi-steady evolution and self-similar expansion, we introduce three types of global motion into a cylindrical force-free flux rope model, and developed a new velocity-modified model for MCs. The three types of the global motion are the linear propagating motion away from the Sun, the expanding and the poloidal motion with respect to the axis of the MC. The model is applied to 72 MCs observed by Wind spacecraft to investigate the properties of the pla…
This work extends recent efforts on the force-free modeling of large flux rope-type structures (magnetic clouds, MCs) to much smaller spatial scales. We first select small flux ropes (SFRs) by eye whose duration is unambiguous and which were observed by the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) or Wind spacecraft during solar maximum years. We inquire into which analytical technique is physically most appropriate. We consider three models: (i) linear force-free field ($\bigtriangledown\times$ B = $α(r) $ B) with a specific, prescribed constant $α$ (Lundquist solution), and (ii) with…
We identify coronal mass ejections (CMEs) associated with magnetic clouds (MCs) observed near Earth by the Wind spacecraft from 2008 to mid-2012, a time period when the two STEREO spacecraft were well positioned to study Earth-directed CMEs. We find 31 out of 48 Wind MCs during this period can be clearly connected with a CME that is trackable in STEREO imagery all the way from the Sun to near 1 AU. For these events, we perform full 3-D reconstructions of the CME structure and kinematics, assuming a flux rope morphology for the CME shape, considering the full complement of STEREO and SOHO imagi…
The release of density structures at the tip of the coronal helmet streamers, likely as a consequence of magnetic reconnection, contributes to the mass flux of the slow solar wind. In situ measurements in the vicinity of the heliospheric plasma sheet of the magnetic field, protons and suprathermal electrons reveal details of the processes at play during the formation of density structures near the Sun. In a previous article, we exploited remote-sensing observations to derive a 3-D picture of the dynamic evolution of a streamer. We found evidence of the recurrent and continual release of dense …
We present a major update to the 3D coronal rope ejection (3DCORE) technique for modeling coronal mass ejection flux ropes in conjunction with an Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) algorithm that is used for fitting the model to in situ magnetic field measurements. The model assumes an empirically motivated torus-like flux rope structure that expands self-similarly within the heliosphere, is influenced by a simplified interaction with the solar wind environment, and carries along an embedded analytical magnetic field. The improved 3DCORE implementation allows us to generate extremely large…
Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) represent one type of the major eruption from the Sun. Their interplanetary counterparts, the interplanetary CMEs (ICMEs), are the direct manifestations of these structures when they propagate into the heliosphere and encounter one or more observing spacecraft. The ICMEs generally exhibit a set of distinctive signatures from the in-situ spacecraft measurements. A particular subset of ICMEs, the so-called Magnetic Clouds (MCs), is more uniquely defined and has been studied for decades, based on in-situ magnetic field and plasma measurements. By utilizing the latest…
The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) observed an interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) event during its first orbit around the sun, among many other events. This event is analyzed by applying a wavelet analysis technique to obtain the reduced magnetic helicity, cross helicity, and residual energy, the first two of which are magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) invariants. Our results show that the ICME, as a large scale magnetic flux rope, possesses high magnetic helicity, very low cross helicity, and highly negative residual energy, thus pointing to a magnetic fluctuation dominated structure. Using the s…
In contrast with the fast solar wind, that originates in coronal holes, the source of the slow solar wind is still debated. Often intermittent and enriched with low FIP elements -- akin to what is observed in closed coronal loops -- the slow wind could form in bursty events nearby helmet streamers. Slow winds also exhibit density perturbations which have been shown to be periodic and could be associated with flux ropes ejected from the tip of helmet streamers, as shown recently by the WISPR white light imager onboard Parker Solar Probe (PSP). In this work, we propose that the main mechanism co…
The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) has observed copious rapid magnetic field direction changes in the near-Sun solar wind. These features have been called "switchbacks," and their origin is a mystery. But their widespread nature suggests that they may be generated by a frequently occurring process in the Sun's atmosphere. We examine the possibility that the switchbacks originate from coronal jets. Recent work suggests that many coronal jets result when photospheric magnetic flux cancels, and forms a small-scale "minifilament" flux rope that erupts and reconnects with coronal field. We argue that the…
The origin of small-scale interplanetary magnetic flux-ropes (SIMFRs) and the relationship between SIMFRs and magnetic clouds (MCs) are still controversial. In this study, two populations of SMIFRs were collected, i.e., SIMFRs originating from the Sun (SIMFR-SUN) and those originating from the solar wind (SIMFR-SW). We defined the SIMFR-SUN (SIMFR-SW) as the SMIFRs that include (exclude) the counter-streaming suprathermal electrons and stay away from (close to) the heliospheric current sheet. After fitting with force-free flux-rope model, 52 SIMFR-SUN and 57 SIMFR-SW events observed by Advance…
Flux ropes (FRs) ejected from the Sun may change their geometrical orientation during their evolution which directly affects their geoeffectiveness. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how solar FRs evolve in the heliosphere to improve our space weather forecasting tools. We analyze 15 coronal mass ejections (CMEs), with clear FR signatures, observed during the decay of Solar Cycle 23 and rise of Solar Cycle 24. We estimate initial orientations of the FRs at the origin using extreme ultraviolet observations of post-eruption arcades and/or eruptive prominences. Then we reconstruct multiviewp…
We demonstrate that global observations of high-energy cosmic rays contribute to understanding unique characteristics of a large-scale magnetic flux rope causing a magnetic storm in August 2018. Following a weak interplanetary shock on 25 August 2018, a magnetic flux rope caused an unexpectedly large geomagnetic storm. It is likely that this event became geoeffective because the flux rope was accompanied by a corotating interaction region and compressed by high-speed solar wind following the flux rope. In fact, a Forbush decrease was observed in cosmic-ray data inside the flux rope as expected…
Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are major drivers of extreme space weather conditions, this being a matter of serious concern for our modern technologically-dependent society. Development of numerical approaches that would simulate CME generation and propagation through the interplanetary space is an important step towards our capability to predict CME arrival times at Earth and their geo-effectiveness. In this paper, we utilize a data-constrained Gibson--Low (GL) flux rope model to generate CMEs. We derive the geometry of the initial GL flux rope using the Graduated Cylindrical Shell (GCS) meth…
Flux-rope-based magnetohydrodynamic modeling of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) is a promising tool for the prediction of the CME arrival time and magnetic field at Earth. In this work, we introduce a constant-turn flux rope model and use it to simulate the 12-July-2012 16:48 CME in the inner heliosphere. We constrain the initial parameters of this CME using the graduated cylindrical shell (GCS) model and the reconnected flux in post-eruption arcades. We correctly reproduce all the magnetic field components of the CME at Earth, with an arrival time error of approximately 1 hour. We further estim…
We investigate the radial dependence of the spectral break separating the inertial from the dissipation range in power density spectra of interplanetary magnetic field fluctuations, between $0.42$ and $5.3$ AU, during radial alignments between MESSENGER and WIND for the inner heliosphere and between WIND and ULYSSES for the outer heliosphere. We found that the spectral break moves to higher and higher frequencies as the heliocentric distance decreases. The radial dependence of the corresponding wavenumber is of the kind $κ_b\sim R^{-1.08}$ in good agreement with that of the wavenumber derived …
We present an analysis of the ionic composition of iron for two interplanetary coronal mass ejections observed in May 21-23 2007 by the ACE and STEREO spacecraft in the context of the magnetic structure of the ejecta flux rope, sheath region, and surrounding solar wind flow. This analysis is made possible due to recent advances in multispacecraft data interpolation, reconstruction, and visualization as well as results from recent modeling of ionic charge states in MHD simulations of magnetic breakout and flux cancellation CME initiation. We use these advances to interpret specific features of …
The Grad-Shafranov reconstruction is a method of estimating the orientation (invariant axis) and cross-section of magnetic flux ropes using the data from a single spacecraft. It can be applied to various magnetic structures such as magnetic clouds (MCs) and flux ropes embedded into the magnetopause and in the solar wind. We develop a number of improvements of this technique and show some examples of the reconstruction procedure of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) observed at 1 AU by the STEREO, WIND and ACE spacecraft during the minimum following the solar cycle 23. The analysis i…
Magnetic flux ropes (MFRs) are one kind of fundamental structures in the solar physics, and involved in various eruption phenomena. Twist, characterizing how the magnetic field lines wind around a main axis, is an intrinsic property of MFRs, closely related to the magnetic free energy and stableness. So far it is unclear how much amount of twist is carried by MFRs in the solar atmosphere and in heliosphere and what role the twist played in the eruptions of MFRs. Contrasting to the solar MFRs, there are lots of in-situ measurements of magnetic clouds (MCs), the large-scale MFRs in interplanetar…
An unexpected strong geomagnetic storm occurred on 2018 August 26, which was caused by a slow coronal mass ejection (CME) from a gradual eruption of a large quiet-region filament. We investigate the eruption and propagation characteristics of this CME in relation to the strong geomagnetic storm with remote sensing and in situ observations. Coronal magnetic fields around the filament are extrapolated and compared with EUV observations. We determine the propagation direction and tilt angle of the CME flux rope near the Sun using a graduated cylindrical shell (GCS) model and the Sun-to-Earth kine…
Interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) observed by the MESSENGER (MES) and Venus Express (VEX) spacecraft have been catalogued and analysed. The ICMEs were identified by a relatively smooth rotation of the magnetic field direction consistent with a flux rope structure, coinciding with a relatively enhanced magnetic field strength. A total of 35 ICMEs were found in the surveyed MES data (primarily from March 2007 to April 2012), and 84 ICMEs in the surveyed VEX data (from May 2006 to December 2013). The ICME flux rope configurations have been determined. Ropes with northward leading edge…
We consider the radial evolution of perpendicular ion heating due to the violation of magnetic moment conservation caused by Alfven and kinetic Alfven wave turbulence. This process, referred to as stochastic heating, can be quantified by the ratio between the average velocity fluctuations at the ion gyroradius and the perpendicular ion thermal speed $ε\equiv δv / v_{t\perp}$. Using 17 years of Helios observations, we constrain how much energy could be dissipated by this mechanism between 0.29 and 0.98 au. We find that stochastic heating likely operates throughout the entire inner heliosphere, …
It is generally known that multi-spacecraft observations of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) more clearly reveal their three-dimensional structure than do observations made by a single spacecraft. The launch of the STEREO twin observatories in October 2006 has greatly increased the number of multipoint studies of ICMEs in the literature, but this field is still in its infancy. To date, most studies continue to use on flux rope models that rely on single track observations through a vast, multi-faceted structure, which oversimplifies the problem and often hinders interpretation of …
The Catholic University of America（美国天主教大学）；ADNET Systems Inc.（ADNET系统公司）；Universidad de Málaga（马拉加大学）；ASTRA, LLC.（ASTRA有限责任公司）
Among the current challenges in Space Weather, one of the main ones is to forecast the internal magnetic configuration within Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections (ICMEs). Currently, a monotonic and coherent magnetic configuration observed is associated with the result of a spacecraft crossing a large flux rope with helical magnetic field lines topology. The classification of such an arrangement is essential to predict geomagnetic disturbance. Thus, the classification relies on the assumption that the ICME's internal structure is a well organized magnetic flux rope. This paper applies machine…
Small interplanetary magnetic flux ropes (SIMFRs) are often detected by space satellites in the interplanetary space near 1 AU. These ropes can be fitted by a cylindrically symmetric magnetic model. The durations of SIMFRsare usually <12 h, and the diameters of SIMFRsare <0.20 AU and show power law distribution. Most SIMFRs are observed in the typically slow solar wind (<500 km/s), and only several events are observed with high speed (>700 km/s). Some SIMFRs demonstrate abnormal heavy ion compositions, such as abnormally high He abundance, abnormally high average iron ionization, and enhanced …
On the Radial Evolution of the Solar Wind : The Source Alignment Method Applied to Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter Observations
Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校空间科学实验室）；Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校物理系）；LIRA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université de Paris（巴黎天文台，PSL大学，CNRS，索邦大学，巴黎大学 LIRA）；Laboratoire Cogitamus（Cogitamus 实验室）；IRAP, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, CNES（图卢兹大学 IRAP，CNRS，CNES）；Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam（波茨坦莱布尼茨天体物理研究所）
