Global Circulation of the Open Magnetic Flux of the Sun
Fisk, L. A. and J. C. Kasper, Global Circulation of the Open Magnetic Flux of the Sun, ApJ, 894, L4 (2020) (ADS)
(click on the image for a larger version)
In the "I told you so!" department here; this cartoon portrays the
mechanism by which the Parker spiral
has become extended to account for the high-latitude structure of the
heliospheric magnetic field (see the artist's
earlier cartoon, in black and white
but equally clear).
The magic here is magnetic reconnection, but not the violent kind often
depicted in our flare/CME cartoons: this is
interchange reconnection.
So far as we know, there is no physical difference between
"reconnection" and "interchange reconnection", although the global
structure of the field may differ.
This paper explains the Parker Solar Probe "switchbacks" in this
way, as further confirmation of this picture.
It is a bittersweet result; the Parker Solar Probe is no longer
flying through the Parker Spiral at all!
In the "I told you so!" department here; this cartoon portrays the mechanism by which the Parker spiral has become extended to account for the high-latitude structure of the heliospheric magnetic field (see the artist's earlier cartoon, in black and white but equally clear). The magic here is magnetic reconnection, but not the violent kind often depicted in our flare/CME cartoons: this is interchange reconnection. So far as we know, there is no physical difference between "reconnection" and "interchange reconnection", although the global structure of the field may differ. This paper explains the Parker Solar Probe "switchbacks" in this way, as further confirmation of this picture. It is a bittersweet result; the Parker Solar Probe is no longer flying through the Parker Spiral at all!