Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Observation of a Magnetic Switchback in the Solar Corona

2022; IOP Publishing; Volume: 936; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3847/2041-8213/ac8104

2041-8213

Daniele Telloni, G. P. Zank, M. Stangalini, Cooper Downs, Haoming Liang, M. Nakanotani, V. Andretta, E. Antonucci, L. Sorriso‐Valvo, L. Adhikari, Lingling Zhao, R. Marino, Roberto Susino, C. Grimani, Michele Fabi, R. D’Amicis, Denise Perrone, R. Bruno, Francesco Carbone, Salvatore Mancuso, M. Romoli, V. Da Deppo, Silvano Fineschi, P. Heinzel, J. D. Moses, G. Naletto, G. Nicolini, D. Spadaro, L. Teriaca, F. Frassati, G. Jerse, Federico Landini, M. Pancrazzi, G. Russano, C. Sasso, Ruggero Biondo, A. Burtovoi, G. Capuano, C. Casini, Marta Casti, Paolo Chioetto, Yara De Leo, M. Giarrusso, Alessandro Liberatore, D. Berghmans, F. Auchère, R. Aznar Cuadrado, L. P. Chitta, L. K. Harra, E. Kraaikamp, David M. Long, Sudip Mandal, S. Parenti, Gabriel Pelouze, Hardi Peter, L. Rodríguez, U. Schühle, Conrad Schwanitz, Phil Smith, C. Verbeeck, A. N. Zhukov,

Astro and Planetary Science

Switchbacks are sudden, large radial deflections of the solar wind magnetic field, widely revealed in interplanetary space by the Parker Solar Probe. The switchbacks' formation mechanism and sources are still unresolved, although candidate mechanisms include Alfv\'enic turbulence, shear-driven Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities, interchange reconnection, and geometrical effects related to the Parker spiral. This Letter presents observations from the Metis coronagraph onboard Solar Orbiter of a single large propagating S-shaped vortex, interpreted as first evidence of a switchback in the solar corona. It originated above an active region with the related loop system bounded by open-field regions to the East and West. Observations, modeling, and theory provide strong arguments in favor of the interchange reconnection origin of switchbacks. Metis measurements suggest that the initiation of the switchback may also be an indicator of the origin of slow solar wind.