Helium Abundance Periods Observed by the Solar Probe Cup on Parker Solar Probe: Encounters 1-14

TL;DR

This study analyzes helium ion observations from the Parker Solar Probe to understand solar wind sources, revealing elevated helium levels linked to CMEs and streamer belt outflows, with implications for solar wind composition and origins.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of He$^{2+}$ velocity distributions and helium abundance variations during Parker Solar Probe encounters, highlighting their connection to solar wind features.

Findings

Most periods show elevated helium abundance (~8.34%)

87% of helium-rich periods are associated with CMEs

Helium abundance increases near solar maximum

Abstract

Parker Solar Probe is a mission designed to explore properties of the solar wind closer than ever before. Detailed particle observations from the Solar Probe Cup (SPC) have primarily focused on examining the proton population in the solar wind. However, several periods throughout the Parker mission have indicated that SPC has observed a pronounced and distinctive population of fully ionized helium, He$^{2+}$. Minor ions are imprinted with properties of the solar wind's source region, as well as mechanisms active during outflow, making them sensitive markers of its origin and formation at the Sun. Through a detailed analysis of the He$^{2+}$ velocity distributions functions, this work examines periods where significant and persistent He$^{2+}$ peaks are observed with SPC. We compute the helium abundance and examine the stream's bulk speed, density, temperature, magnetic field topology, and electron strahl properties to identify distinctive solar wind features that can provide insight to their solar source. We find that nearly all periods exhibit an elevated mean helium composition ($8.34\%$) compared to typical solar wind and a majority ($\sim87\%$) of these periods are connected to coronal mass ejections, with the highest abundance reaching $23.1\%$. The helium abundance and number of events increases as the solar cycle approaches maximum with a weak dependence on speed. Additionally, the events not associated with a CME are clustered near the heliospheric current sheet suggesting they are connected to streamer belt outflows. However, there are currently no theoretical explanations that fully describe the range of depleted and elevated helium abundances observed.