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Evolution of Magnetic Deflections at a Conversion Layer near the Alfvén Surface

delete2026-04-20
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PRE
AI
P
Payne, Dominic *
M
Mojtaba Akhavan‐Tafti
J
Joshua Goodwill
B
Badman, Samuel
B
Bandyopadhyay, Riddhi
Z
Zank, Gary
S
Subash Adhikari
M
Matthaeus, William
C
Chen Shi
M
M. L. Stevens
R
R. Livi
Y
Yeimy J. Rivera
P
Paulson, Kristoff
DOI:10.3847/2041-8213/ae4fbddelete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
We examine the statistics of Alfv & eacute;nic deflections in sub- and super-Alfv & eacute;nic solar wind with particular focus on the magnetic deflection angle theta. Our findings are in general agreement with earlier studies suggesting that theta > 90 degrees rarely occurs in sub-Alfv & eacute;nic regimes. We find the upper limit of theta exhibits an identifiable trend with the Alfv & eacute;n Mach number M-a, suggesting that gradual steepening of Alfv & eacute;nic deflections with increasing M-a is a plausible mechanism controlling deflection angles in the young solar wind. Further analysis reveals that large velocity fluctuations (delta v/v > 1) tend to be important in the largest sub-Alfv & eacute;nic deflections with increasing contributions from delta v(parallel to) approaching M-a = 1, while few deflections in the super-Alfv & eacute;nic regime exhibit such large velocity perturbations. We also determine the local ratio of radial Poynting flux S-R to kinetic energy flux K-R and find that large sub-Alfv & eacute;nic deflection angles tend to be dominated by S-R, while super-Alfv & eacute;nic deflections are eventually dominated by the K-R associated with the radial solar wind flow. Our results show that near the Alfv & eacute;n surface (where M-a = 1), there is a critical region of parameter space where delta v similar to v(a) and K-R/S-R similar to 1. We refer to this region (where divided by log(10)(M-a)divided by<0.2) as the conversion layer. The conversion layer may play a significant role in the evolution of magnetic defections by providing the medium for converting magnetic energy to particle energy and likely driving the formation of magnetic switchbacks in super-Alfv & eacute;nic solar wind.
Keywords:
SOLAR-WIND
SWITCHBACKS
PROBE
TURBULENCE
IONS

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Astrophysical Journal Letters cover
Astrophysical Journal Letters
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11.7
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1.2W
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5.9W

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