Radial Evolution of the Near-Sun Solar Wind: Parker Solar Probe Observations

Abstract

A statistical study of the radial evolution of the solar wind within 0.3 au is shown in this Letter based on Parker Solar Probe observations. We show the radial distribution of the main solar wind parameters, including the solar wind speed V _sw , magnetic field ∣ B ∣, the number density of electrons N _e , protons N _p , and α particles N _α , and the temperature of protons T _p and α particles T _α . The power-law fitting results of these parameters in the near-Sun solar wind are compared with previous radial models. We also show the radial distribution of the angle between the magnetic field B , solar wind V _sw , and radial vector R . In the solar wind within 0.3 au, ${\theta }_{{\mathrm{BV}}_{\mathrm{sw}}}$ , and θ _BR mainly concentrate around 135°, and ${\theta }_{{\mathrm{RV}}_{\mathrm{sw}}}$ almost concentrates in the region less than 20°. Furthermore, we also present the radial distribution of the relative values between the solar wind parameters, including the electric neutrality estimation ((2 × N _α + N _p )/ N _e ≃ 1 within 0.2 au), relative number density ratio ( N _α / N _p ≃ 0.02 in slow solar wind and N _α / N _p ≃ 0.04 in faster solar wind), relative temperature ratio ( T _α / T _p decreases with the increase of heliocentric distance and its decay rate is larger in faster solar wind), and differential speed (both V _α − V _p and ( V _α − V _p )/ V _A are larger in the faster solar wind and decrease as heliocentric distance increases).

Keywords

• Solar wind
• Solar evolution
• Space plasmas