The set of solar wind speeds is associated with the reconnection of the Sun’s magnetic field. In this respect informs University of Maryland.
The solar wind constantly “works” from the Sun, an influx of ions and electrons, which has a significant effect on the entire planetary system. The velocity of this flow can significantly exceed 1 million km/s, and astrophysicists wonder what process is responsible for such acceleration.
James Drake and colleagues analyzed data from the Parker probe, which is in a relatively low solar orbit with a perihelion well below Mercury’s orbit. As a result, the physicists concluded that wind particles gain such acceleration as a result of magnetic reconnection, a process in which magnetic field lines from different “objects” converge and suddenly change direction. In the meantime, a large amount of energy contained in the magnetic field is released.
The researchers showed that magnetic reconnection in the Sun is a continuous process rather than a series of isolated events as previously thought. This led them to the conclusion that the rate of oscillation of magnetic field energy driving the heated plasma jet was large enough to explain the observed wind speed.
Since the formation of stellar winds is a common phenomenon in the universe, the authors hope that their theory will allow us to better understand not only the structure of the Sun, but also the course of other astrophysical processes.