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Reconnection-Driven Coronal-Hole Jets with Gravity and Solar WindCoronal-hole jets occur ubiquitously in the Sun's coronal holes, at EUV and X-ray bright points associated with intrusions of minority magnetic polarity. The embedded-bipole model for these jets posits that they are driven by explosive, fast reconnection between the stressed closed field of the embedded bipole and the open field of the surrounding coronal hole. Previous numerical studies in Cartesian geometry, assuming uniform ambient magnetic field and plasma while neglecting gravity and solar wind, demonstrated that the model is robust and can produce jet-like events in simple configurations. We have extended these investigations by including spherical geometry,gravity, and solar wind in a nonuniform, coronal hole-like ambient atmosphere. Our simulations confirm that the jet is initiated by the onset of a kink-like instability of the internal closed field, which induces a burst of reconnection between the closed and external open field, launching a helical jet. Our new results demonstrate that the jet propagation is sustained through the outer corona, in the form of a traveling nonlinear Alfven wave front trailed by slower-moving plasma density enhancements that are compressed and accelerated by the wave. This finding agrees well with observations of white-light coronal-hole jets, and can explain microstreams and torsional Alfven waves detected in situ in the solar wind. We also use our numerical results to deduce scaling relationships between properties of the coronal source region and the characteristics of the resulting jet, which can be tested against observations.
Document ID
20170004864
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Karpen, J. T.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Devore, C. R.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Antiochos, S. K.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Pariat, E.
(Paris Univ. France)
Date Acquired
June 1, 2017
Publication Date
January 3, 2017
Publication Information
Publication: The Astrophysical Journal
Publisher: The American Astronomical Society
Volume: 834
Issue: 1
ISSN: 0004-637X
e-ISSN: 1538-4357
Subject Category
Solar Physics
Numerical Analysis
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN43030
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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