Proton Enhancement and Decreased O⁶⁺∕H at the Heliospheric Current Sheet: Implications for the Origin of Slow Solar Wind

Liu, Y. C.-M.; Galvin, A. B.; Popecki, M. A.; Simunac, K. D. C.; Kistler, L.; Farrugia, C.; Lee, M. A.; Klecker, B.; Bochsler, P.; Luhmann, J. L.; Jian, L. K.; Moebius, E.; Wimmer-Schweingruber, R.; Wurz, P. (2010). Proton Enhancement and Decreased O⁶⁺∕H at the Heliospheric Current Sheet: Implications for the Origin of Slow Solar Wind. In: Twelfth International Solar Wind Conference. AIP Conference Proceedings: Vol. 1216 (pp. 363-366). American Institute of Physics 10.1063/1.3395875

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We investigated the proton enhancement and O⁶⁺/H depletion in the vicinity of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) using data from STEREO/PLASTIC and STEREO/IMPACT. Three HCS crossing events were studied. For the first two events, the proton enhancement and O⁶⁺/H depletion are found to lie at one edge of the HCS. The proton density has a steep slope both at the HCS and at the other boundary of the enhancement. In the third event the proton enhancement and O⁶⁺/H depletion surround the HCS and last for 8 hours while the density profile is very different from the other two events. Velocity shear is observed at the HCS for the first two events but not for the third. The enhancement of hydrogen and depletion of oxygen at the streamer belt in the solar corona have been reported using UVCS observation. A potential connection with our observations is based on the similar features observed at 1 AU. How the plasma flows out of the streamer belt, and why there are different features in HCS encounters remain open questions for future study.

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