Interplanetary Magnetic Field Connection to the Sun during Electron Heat FluxDropouts in the Solar Wind

摘要

Gosling (1975) and MacQueen (1980) pointed out that coronal mass ejections (CMEs)add significant magnetic flux which is connected to the sun, to the interplanetary medium. Since the interplanetary magnetic field is observed to stay at a roughly constant level, some compensating removal of flux is necessary. McComas et al. (1989) suggested that magnetic reconnection in current sheets near the sun removes flux by producing U-shaped magnetic structures in the interplanetary medium which are disconnected from the sun at both ends. Since solar wind halo electrons normally carry heat flux outward from the sun's hot corona to the cool interplanetary medium, McComas et al. (1989) interpreted observations of dropouts of the solar wind electron heat flux as evidence for