Parker Solar Probe Observations of Solar Wind Energetic Proton Beams Produced by Magnetic Reconnection in the Near-Sun Heliospheric Current Sheet.

ABSTRACT: We report observations of reconnection exhausts in the Heliospheric Current Sheet (HCS) during Parker Solar Probe Encounters 08 and 07, at 16 R _s and 20 R _s , respectively. Heliospheric current sheet (HCS) reconnection accelerated protons to almost twice the solar wind speed and increased the proton core energy by a factor of ∼3, due to the Alfvén speed being comparable to the solar wind flow speed at these near-Sun distances. Furthermore, protons were energized to super-thermal energies. During E08, energized protons were found to have leaked out of the exhaust along separatrix field lines, appearing as field-aligned energetic proton beams in a broad region outside the HCS. Concurrent dropouts of strahl electrons, indicating disconnection

SUBMITTER: Phan TD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9286436 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature