Magnetic Reconnection as the Driver of the Solar Wind

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 (a.k.a. jetlets). This jetting activity, like the solar wind and the heating of the coronal plasma, is ubiquitous regardless of the solar cycle phase. Each event arises from small-scale reconnection of opposite-polarity magnetic fields producing a short-lived jet of hot plasma and Alfven waves into the corona. The discrete nature of these jetlet events leads to intermittent outflows from the corona, which homogenize as they propagate away from the Sun and form the solar wind. This discovery establishes the importance of small-scale magnetic reconnection in solar and stellar atmospheres in understanding ubiquitous phenomena such as coronal heating and solar wind acceleration. Based on previous analyses linking the switchbacks to the magnetic network, we also argue that these new observations might provide the link between the magnetic activity at the base of the corona and the switchback solar wind phenomenon. These new observations need to be put in the bigger picture of the role of magnetic reconnection and the diverse form of jetting in the solar atmosphere.

我们展示了极紫外太阳观测结果，这些结果证明了在日冕底部由小尺度磁重联驱动的无处不在的喷流活动。我们认为，在源区加热和驱动太阳风的物理机制是小尺度喷流活动（又称“微喷流”）形式的普遍存在的磁重联。这种喷流活动，如同太阳风和日冕等离子体的加热一样，无论太阳活动周期处于何种阶段都是普遍存在的。每次事件都源于相反极性磁场的小尺度重联，从而产生一股短暂的热等离子体和阿尔文波喷流进入日冕。这些微喷流事件的离散性导致日冕的间歇性外流，当它们远离太阳传播时变得均匀并形成太阳风。这一发现确立了小尺度磁重联在太阳和恒星大气层中对于理解诸如日冕加热和太阳风加速等普遍现象的重要性。基于先前将反转现象与磁网络联系起来的分析，我们还认为这些新的观测结果可能提供日冕底部的磁活动与太阳风反转现象之间的联系。这些新的观测结果需要放在磁重联的作用以及太阳大气层中喷流的多种形式这一更大的背景下进行考量。