[P-EM11] Frontiers in solar physics

[PEM11-P08] How Small-scale Jet-like Solar Events from Miniature Flux Rope Eruptions Might Produce the Solar Wind

*Alphonse Sterling¹, Navdeep Panesar^2,3, Ronald Moore^4,1 (1.NASA/MSFC, 2. Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, 3.Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory, 4.University of Alabama Huntsville)

Keywords:Solar filament eruptions, Solar EUV emissions, Solar magnetic fields, Solar wind

We consider how small-scale jet-like events might make the solar wind, as has been suggested in recent studies. We show that the events referred to as "coronal jets" and as "jetlets" both fall on a power-law distribution that also includes large-scale eruptions and spicule-sized features; all of the jet-like events could contribute to the solar wind. Based on imaging and magnetic field data, it is plausible that many or most of these events might form by the same mechanism, in this manner: Magnetic flux cancelation produces small-scale flux ropes, often containing a cool-material minifilament; this minifilament/flux rope then erupts and reconnects with adjacent open coronal field, along which "plasma jets" flow and contribute to the solar wind. The erupting flux ropes can contain twist that is transferred to the open field and plausibly become Alfvénic pulses that form magnetic switchbacks, providing an intrinsic connection between switchbacks and the production of the solar wind. A summary of this work appears in Sterling, Panesar, & Moore (2024, ApJ, 963, 4).