| Authors : | T. Samanta1, D. de Pablos2, S.T. Badman3,4, C. Schwanitz5,6, S.M. Bahauddin7, L.K. Harra5,6, G. Petrie8, C. Mac Cormack9, C.H. Mandrini9, N.E. Raouafi10, V. Martinez Pillet8, M. Velli11 |
| Authors Affiliation: | 1 Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Koramangala, Bangalore 560034, India.
2 Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St. Mary, Surrey, RH56NT, UK.
3 Physics Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7300, USA.
4 Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7450, USA.
5 PMOD/WRC, Davos-Dorf, Davos, CH-7260, Switzerland.
6 ETH-Zürich, Hönggerberg campus, HIT building, Zürich, Switzerland.
7 Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80303, USA.
8 National Solar Observatory, 3665 Discovery Drive, Boulder, CO 80303, USA.
9 Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio, IAFE, UBA-CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
10 The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723-6099, USA.
11 Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. |
| Abstract : | Parker Solar Probe (PSP) observations show ubiquitous magnetic field reversals closer to the Sun, often referred to as “switchbacks”. The switchbacks have been observed before in the solar wind near 1 au and beyond, but their occurrence was historically rare. PSP measurements below ∼ 0.2 au show that switchbacks are, however, the most prominent structures in the “young” solar wind. In this work, we analyze remote sensing observations of a small equatorial coronal hole to which PSP was connected during the perihelion of Encounter 1. We investigate whether some of the switchbacks captured during the encounter were of coronal origin by correlating common switchback in situ signatures with remote observations of their expected coronal footpoint. We find strong evidence that timescales present in the corona are relevant to the outflowing, switchback-filled solar wind that is illustrated by a strong linear correlation. The above findings suggest that a sub-population of the switchbacks are seeded at the corona and travel into interplanetary space. |
