Sudden depletion of Alfv\'enic turbulence in the rarefaction region of corotating solar wind high speed streams at 1 AU: possible solar origin?

TL;DR

This study investigates the sudden reduction of Alfvénic turbulence in the rarefaction regions of high-speed solar wind streams at 1 AU, exploring potential solar origins and physical mechanisms behind this phenomenon.

Contribution

It proposes a novel mechanism involving interchange reconnection at the solar corona as the cause of turbulence depletion in the solar wind.

Findings

No clear tangential discontinuity was found between regions.

Ion composition analysis showed no abrupt changes linked to turbulence reduction.

Interchange reconnection at the coronal base is proposed as the underlying mechanism.

Abstract

A canonical description of a corotating solar wind high speed stream, in terms of velocity profile, would indicate three main regions:a stream interface or corotating interaction region characterized by a rapid flow speed increase and by compressive phenomena due to dynamical interaction between the fast wind flow and the slower ambient plasma;a fast wind plateau characterized by weak compressive phenomena and large amplitude fluctuations with a dominant Alfv\'enic character;a rarefaction region characterized by a decreasing trend of the flow speed and wind fluctuations dramatically reduced in amplitude and Alfv\'enic character, followed by the slow ambient wind. Interesting enough, in some cases the region where the severe reduction of these fluctuations takes place is remarkably short in time, of the order of minutes, and located at the flow velocity knee separating the fast wind plateau from the rarefaction region. The aim of this work is to investigate which are the physical mechanisms that might be at the origin of this phenomenon. We firstly looked for the presence of any tangential discontinuity which might inhibit the propagation of Alfv\'enic fluctuations from fast wind region to rarefaction region. The absence of a clear evidence for the presence of this discontinuity between these two regions led us to proceed with ion composition analysis for the corresponding solar wind, looking for any abrupt variation in minor ions parameters (as tracers of the source region) which might be linked to the phenomenon observed in the wind fluctuations. In the lack of a positive feedback from this analysis, we finally propose a mechanism based on interchange reconnection experienced by the field lines at the base of the corona, within the region separating the open field lines of the coronal hole, source of the fast wind, from the surrounding regions mainly characterized by closed field lines.