A Reconnection-driven Rarefaction Wave Model for Coronal Outflows

Bradshaw, S. J., G. Aulanier, and G. Del Zanna, A Reconnection-driven Rarefaction Wave Model for Coronal Outflows, ApJ, 743, 66 (2011) (ADS)

The cartoon

(click on the image for a larger version)

This cartoon is rated "good", although it is painfully trivial. It is good because it illustrates a simple piece of physics, never mind that we don't understand it yet: magnetic reconnection between open and closed field structures, aimed to reflect the outflows (blueshifted EUV line signatures) observed following large-scale reconnection. This geometry follows the Heyvaerts scheme. The paper describes simulations that suggest the presence of rarefaction waves following this reconnection. This could help to explain the formation of the slow solar wind, the authors suggest... the citation history suggests that about three people per year consider this to be a possibility.

Date: 2010 July 19

Update: 2019 November 19