Can the Parker Solar Probe Detect a CME-flare Current Sheet?

Abstract

A current sheet (CS) is the central structure in the disrupting magnetic configuration during solar eruptions. More than 90% of the free magnetic energy (the difference between the energy in the nonpotential magnetic field and that in the potential one) stored in the coronal magnetic field beforehand is converted into the heating and kinetic energy of the plasma, as well as accelerating charged particles, by magnetic reconnection occurring in the CS. However, the detailed physical properties and fine structures of the CS are still unknown, since there is no relevant information obtained via in situ detections. The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) may provide us with such information should it traverse a CS in an eruption. The perihelion of PSP’s final orbit is located at about 10 solar radii from the center of the Sun, so it can observe the CS at a very close distance, or even traverse the CS, which would provide us with a unique opportunity to look into the fine properties and structures of the CS, helping to reveal the detailed physics of large-scale reconnection that would have been impossible before. We evaluate the probability that PSP can traverse a CS, and examine the orbit of a PSP-like spacecraft that has the highest probability to traverse a CS.

Keywords

• Solar coronal mass ejections
• Solar magnetic reconnection
• Heliocentric orbit