Cross Helicity and the Helium Abundance as an In Situ Metric of Solar Wind Acceleration
The two-state solar wind paradigm is based on observations showing that slow and fast solar wind have distinct properties like helium abundances, kinetic signatures, elemental composition, and charge-state ratios. Nominally, the fast wind originates from solar sources that are continuously magnetica...
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2025-01-01
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adb48e |
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| author | B. L. Alterman Raffaella D’Amicis |
| author_facet | B. L. Alterman Raffaella D’Amicis |
| author_sort | B. L. Alterman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The two-state solar wind paradigm is based on observations showing that slow and fast solar wind have distinct properties like helium abundances, kinetic signatures, elemental composition, and charge-state ratios. Nominally, the fast wind originates from solar sources that are continuously magnetically open to the heliosphere like coronal holes while the slow wind is from solar sources that are only intermittently open to the heliosphere like helmet streamers and pseudostreamers. The Alfvénic slow wind is an emerging third class of solar wind that challenges the two-state fast/slow paradigm. It has slow wind speeds but is highly Alfvénic, i.e., has a high correlation between velocity and magnetic field fluctuations along with low compressibility typical of Alfvén waves, which is typically observed in fast wind. Its other properties are also more similar to the fast than slow wind. From 28 yr of Wind observations at 1 au, we derive the solar wind helium abundance ( A _He ), Alfvénicity (∣ σ _c ∣), and solar wind speed ( v _sw ). Characterizing v _sw as a function of ∣ σ _c ∣ and A _He , we show that the maximum solar wind speed for plasma accelerated in source regions that are intermittently open is faster than the minimum solar wind speed for plasma accelerated in continuously open regions. We infer that the Alfvénic slow wind is likely solar wind originating from open field regions with speeds below the maximum solar wind speed for plasma from intermittently open regions. We then discuss possible implications for solar wind acceleration. Finally, we utilize the combination of helium abundance and normalized cross helicity to present a novel solar wind categorization scheme that illustrates the transition in observations of solar wind at 1 au from magnetically closed to magnetically open sources. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e2ae11304a224b85af6bbda765dec0e6 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2041-8205 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
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| series | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-e2ae11304a224b85af6bbda765dec0e62025-08-20T02:42:11ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal Letters2041-82052025-01-019822L4010.3847/2041-8213/adb48eCross Helicity and the Helium Abundance as an In Situ Metric of Solar Wind AccelerationB. L. Alterman0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6673-3432Raffaella D’Amicis1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2647-117XHeliophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA ; b.l.alterman@nasa.gov; Southwest Research Institute , 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78238, USAINAF— Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology , Via Fosso del Cavaliere, 100, 00133 Rome, ItalyThe two-state solar wind paradigm is based on observations showing that slow and fast solar wind have distinct properties like helium abundances, kinetic signatures, elemental composition, and charge-state ratios. Nominally, the fast wind originates from solar sources that are continuously magnetically open to the heliosphere like coronal holes while the slow wind is from solar sources that are only intermittently open to the heliosphere like helmet streamers and pseudostreamers. The Alfvénic slow wind is an emerging third class of solar wind that challenges the two-state fast/slow paradigm. It has slow wind speeds but is highly Alfvénic, i.e., has a high correlation between velocity and magnetic field fluctuations along with low compressibility typical of Alfvén waves, which is typically observed in fast wind. Its other properties are also more similar to the fast than slow wind. From 28 yr of Wind observations at 1 au, we derive the solar wind helium abundance ( A _He ), Alfvénicity (∣ σ _c ∣), and solar wind speed ( v _sw ). Characterizing v _sw as a function of ∣ σ _c ∣ and A _He , we show that the maximum solar wind speed for plasma accelerated in source regions that are intermittently open is faster than the minimum solar wind speed for plasma accelerated in continuously open regions. We infer that the Alfvénic slow wind is likely solar wind originating from open field regions with speeds below the maximum solar wind speed for plasma from intermittently open regions. We then discuss possible implications for solar wind acceleration. Finally, we utilize the combination of helium abundance and normalized cross helicity to present a novel solar wind categorization scheme that illustrates the transition in observations of solar wind at 1 au from magnetically closed to magnetically open sources.https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adb48eMagnetohydrodynamicsAlfvén wavesChemical abundancesAbundance ratiosFast solar windSlow solar wind |
| spellingShingle | B. L. Alterman Raffaella D’Amicis Cross Helicity and the Helium Abundance as an In Situ Metric of Solar Wind Acceleration The Astrophysical Journal Letters Magnetohydrodynamics Alfvén waves Chemical abundances Abundance ratios Fast solar wind Slow solar wind |
| title | Cross Helicity and the Helium Abundance as an In Situ Metric of Solar Wind Acceleration |
| title_full | Cross Helicity and the Helium Abundance as an In Situ Metric of Solar Wind Acceleration |
| title_fullStr | Cross Helicity and the Helium Abundance as an In Situ Metric of Solar Wind Acceleration |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cross Helicity and the Helium Abundance as an In Situ Metric of Solar Wind Acceleration |
| title_short | Cross Helicity and the Helium Abundance as an In Situ Metric of Solar Wind Acceleration |
| title_sort | cross helicity and the helium abundance as an in situ metric of solar wind acceleration |
| topic | Magnetohydrodynamics Alfvén waves Chemical abundances Abundance ratios Fast solar wind Slow solar wind |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adb48e |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT blalterman crosshelicityandtheheliumabundanceasaninsitumetricofsolarwindacceleration AT raffaelladamicis crosshelicityandtheheliumabundanceasaninsitumetricofsolarwindacceleration |