Reconnection-Driven Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence in a Simulated Coronal-Hole Jet

TL;DR

This study uses advanced simulations to analyze reconnection-driven turbulence in solar coronal-hole jets, revealing magnetic turbulence characteristics similar to those observed in the solar wind.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed statistical analysis linking simulated coronal-hole jets with observed solar wind turbulence properties.

Findings

Magnetic turbulence in the jet matches the Müller-Biskamp scaling model.

Spatial correlations indicate intermittent current sheets and Alfvén wave structures.

Simulation results agree quantitatively with Ulysses spacecraft observations.

Abstract

Extreme-ultraviolet and X-ray jets occur frequently in magnetically open coronal holes on the Sun, especially at high solar latitudes. Some of these jets are observed by white-light coronagraphs as they propagate through the outer corona toward the inner heliosphere, and it has been proposed that they give rise to microstreams and torsional Alfv\'{e}n waves detected in situ in the solar wind. To predict and understand the signatures of coronal-hole jets, we have performed a detailed statistical analysis of such a jet simulated with an adaptively refined magnetohydrodynamics model. The results confirm the generation and persistence of three-dimensional, reconnectiondriven magnetic turbulence in the simulation. We calculate the spatial correlations of magnetic fluctuations within the jet and find that they agree best with the M\"{u}ller - Biskamp scaling model including intermittent current sheets of various sizes coupled via hydrodynamic turbulent cascade. The anisotropy of the magnetic fluctuations and the spatial orientation of the current sheets are consistent with an ensemble of nonlinear Alfv\'{e}n waves. These properties also reflect the overall collimated jet structure imposed by the geometry of the reconnecting magnetic field. A comparison with Ulysses observations shows that turbulence in the jet wake is in quantitative agreement with that in the fast solar wind.