Disconnecting Solar Magnetic Flux

Disconnection of open magnetic flux by reconnection is required to balance the injection of open flux by CMEs and other eruptive events. Making use of recent advances in heliospheric background subtraction, we have imaged many abrupt disconnection events. These events produce dense plasma clouds whose distinctie shape can now be traced from the corona across the inner solar system via heliospheric imaging. The morphology of each initial event is characteristic of magnetic reconnection across a current sheet, and the newly-disconnected flux takes the form of a "U"-shaped loop that moves outward, accreting coronal and solar wind material. We analyzed one such event on 2008 December 18 as it formed and accelerated at 20 m/s^2 to 320 km/s, expanding self-similarly until it exited our field of view 1.2 AU from the Sun. From acceleration and photometric mass estimates we derive the coronal magnetic field strength to be 8uT, 6 Rs above the photosphere, and the entrained flux to be 1.6x10^11 Wb (1.6x10^19 Mx). We model the feature's propagation by balancing inferred magnetic tension force against accretion drag. This model is consistent with the feature's behavior and accepted solar wind parameters. By counting events over a 36 day window, we estimate a global event rate of 1/day and a global solar minimum unsigned flux disconnection rate of 6x10^13 Wb/y (6x10^21 Mx/y) by this mechanism. That rate corresponds to ~0.2 nT/y change in the radial heliospheric field at 1 AU, indicating that the mechanism is important to the heliospheric flux balance.Comment: preprint is 20 pages with 8 figures; accepted by APJ for publication in 201

Can Streamer Blobs prevent the Buildup of the Interplanetetary Magnetic Field?

Coronal Mass Ejections continuously drag closed magnetic field lines away from the Sun, adding new flux to the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). We propose that the outward-moving blobs that have been observed in helmet streamers are evidence of ongoing, small-scale reconnection in streamer current sheets, which may play an important role in the prevention of an indefinite buildup of the IMF. Reconnection between two open field lines from both sides of a streamer current sheet creates a new closed field line, which becomes part of the helmet, and a disconnected field line, which moves outward. The blobs are formed by plasma from the streamer that is swept up in the trough of the outward moving field line. We show that this mechanism is supported by observations from SOHO/LASCO. Additionally, we propose a thorough statistical study to quantify the contribution of blob formation to the reduction of the IMF, and indicate how this mechanism may be verified by observations with SOHO/UVCS and the proposed NASA STEREO and ESA Polar Orbiter missions.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures; accepted by The Astrophysical Journal Letters; uses AASTe

Scatter-free pickup ions beyond the heliopause as a model for the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) ribbon

We present new kinetic-gasdynamic model of the solar wind interaction with the local interstellar medium. The model incorporates several processes suggested by McComas et al. (2009) for the origin of the heliospheric ENA ribbon -- the most prominent feature seen in the all sky maps of heliospheric ENAs discovered by the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX). The ribbon is a region of enhanced fluxes of ENAs crossing almost the entire sky. Soon after the ribbon's discovery it was realized (McComas et al., 2009) that the enhancement of the fluxes could be in the directions where the radial component of the interstellar magnetic field around the heliopause is close to zero (Schwadron et al., 2009). Our model includes secondary charge exchange of the interstellar H atoms with the interstellar pickup protons outside the heliopause and is a further advancement of the kinetic-gasdynamic model by Malama et al. (2006) where pickup protons were treated as a separate kinetic component. Izmodenov et al. (2009) have shown in the frame of Malama's model that the interstellar pickup protons outside the heliopause maybe a significant source of ENAs at energies above 1 keV. The difference between the current work and that of Izmodenov et al. (2009) is in the assumption of no-scattering for newly created pickup protons outside the heliopause. In this limit the model produces a feature qualitatively similar to the ribbon observed by IBEX.Comment: submitted to ApJ

Assessment of detectability of neutral interstellar deuterium by IBEX observations

The abundance of deuterium in the interstellar gas in front of the Sun gives insight into the processes of filtration of neutral interstellar species through the heliospheric interface and potentially into the chemical evolution of the Galactic gas. We investigate the possibility of detection of neutral interstellar deuterium at 1 AU from the Sun by direct sampling by the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX). We simulate the flux of neutral interstellar D at IBEX for the actual measurement conditions. We assess the number of interstellar D atom counts expected during the first three years of IBEX operation. We also simulate observations expected during an epoch of high solar activity. In addition, we calculate the expected counts of D atoms from the thin terrestrial water layer, sputtered from the IBEX-Lo conversion surface by neutral interstellar He atoms. Most D counts registered by IBEX-Lo are expected to originate from the water layer, exceeding the interstellar signal by 2 orders of magnitude. However, the sputtering should stop once the Earth leaves the portion of orbit traversed by interstellar He atoms. We identify seasons during the year when mostly the genuine interstellar D atoms are expected in the signal. During the first 3 years of IBEX operations about 2 detectable interstellar D atoms are expected. This number is comparable with the expected number of sputtered D atoms registered during the same time intervals. The most favorable conditions for the detection occur during low solar activity, in an interval including March and April each year. The detection chances could be improved by extending the instrument duty cycle, e.g., by making observations in the special deuterium mode of IBEX-Lo.Comment: Accepted for Astronomy & Astrophysic

Bistatic LIDAR experiment proposed for the shuttle/tethered satellite system missions

A new experiment concept has been proposed for the shuttle/tethered satellite system missions, which can provide high resolution, global density mappings of certain ionospheric species. The technique utilizes bistatic LIDAR to take advantage of the unique dual platform configuration offered by these missions. A tuned, shuttle-based laser is used to excite a column of the atmosphere adjacent to the tethered satellite, while triangulating photometic detectors on the satellite are employed to measure the fluorescence from sections of the column. The fluorescent intensity at the detectors is increased about six decades over both ground-based and monostatic shuttle-based LIDAR sounding of the same region. In addition, the orbital motion of the Shuttle provides for quasi-global mapping unattainable with ground-based observations. Since this technique provides such vastly improved resolution on a synoptic scale, many important middle atmospheric studies, heretofore untenable, may soon be addressed

A possible generation mechanism for the IBEX ribbon from outside the heliosphere

The brightest and most surprising feature in the first all-sky maps of Energetic Neutral Atoms (ENA) emissions (0.2-6 keV) produced by the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) is an almost circular ribbon of a ~140{\deg} opening angle, centered at (l,b) = (33{\deg}, 55{\deg}), covering the part of the celestial sphere with the lowest column densities of the Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC). We propose a novel interpretation of the IBEX results based on the idea of ENA produced by charge-exchange between the neutral H atoms at the nearby edge of the LIC and the hot protons of the Local Bubble (LB). These ENAs can reach the Sun's vicinity because of very low column density of the intervening LIC material. We show that a plane-parallel or slightly curved interface layer of contact between the LIC H atoms (n_H = 0.2 cm^-3, T = 6000-7000 K) and the LB protons (n_p = 0.005 cm^-3, T ~ 10^6 K), together with indirect contribution coming from multiply-scattered ENAs from the LB, may be able to explain both the shape of the ribbon and the observed intensities provided that the edge is < (500-2000) AU away, the LIC proton density is (correspondingly) < (0.04-0.01) cm^-3, and the LB contains ~1% of non-thermal protons over the IBEX energy range. If this model is correct, then IBEX, for the first time, has imaged in ENAs a celestial object from beyond the confines of the heliosphere and can directly diagnose the plasma conditions in the LB.Comment: Accepted by Ap.J.Lett

Distance to the IBEX Ribbon Source Inferred from Parallax

Maps of Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) fluxes obtained from Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) observations revealed a bright structure extending over the sky, subsequently dubbed the IBEX ribbon. The ribbon had not been expected from the existing models and theories prior to IBEX, and a number of mechanisms have since been proposed to explain the observations. In these mechanisms, the observed ENAs emerge from source plasmas located at different distances from the Sun. Since each part of the sky is observed by IBEX twice during the year from opposite sides of the Sun, the apparent position of the ribbon as observed in the sky is shifted due to parallax. To determine the ribbon parallax, we found the precise location of the maximum signal of the ribbon observed in each orbital arc. The obtained apparent positions were subsequently corrected for the Compton-Getting effect, gravitational deflection, and radiation pressure. Finally, we selected a part of the ribbon where its position is similar between the IBEX energy passbands. We compared the apparent positions obtained from the viewing locations on the opposite sides of the Sun, and found that they are shifted by a parallax angle of $0.41^\circ\pm0.15^\circ$, which corresponds to a distance of $140^{+84}_{-38}$ AU. This finding supports models of the ribbon with the source located just outside the heliopause.Comment: 26 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, submitted to Ap