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Elemental composition in the solar wind reflects the fractionation processes at the Sun. In coronal mass ejections (CMEs) measured in the heliosphere, the elemental composition can vary between plasma of high and low ionization states as indicated by the average Fe charge state, 〈QFe〉. It is found that CMEs with higher ionized plasma, 〈QFe〉 greater than 12, are significantly more enriched in low first ionization potential (FIP) elements compared to their less ionized, 〈QFe〉 less than 12, counterparts. In addition, the CME elemental composition has been shown to vary along the solar cycle. However, the processes driving changes in elemental composition in the plasma are not well understood. To gain insight into this variation, this work investigates the effects of gravitational settling in the ejecta to examine how that process can modify signatures of the FIP effect found in CMEs. We examine the absolute abundances of C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, and Fe in CMEs between 1998 and 2011. Results show that the ejecta exhibits some gravitational settling effects in approximately 33% of all CME periods in plasma where the Fe abundance of the ejecta compared to the solar wind (Fe/HCME:Fe/HSW) is depleted compared to the C abundance (C/HCME:C/HSW). We also find gravitational settling is most prominent in CMEs during solar minimum; however, it occurs throughout the solar cycle. This study indicates that gravitational settling, along with the FIP effect, can become important in governing the compositional makeup of CME source regions.

Mesoscale periodic structures observed in solar wind plasma serve as an important diagnostic tool for constraining the processes that govern the formation of the solar wind. These structures have been observed in situ and in remote data as fluctuations in proton and electron density. However, only two events of this type have been reported regarding the elemental and ionic composition. Composition measurements are especially important in gaining an understanding of the origin of the solar wind as the composition is frozen into the plasma at the Sun and does not evolve as it advects through the heliosphere. Here, we present the analysis of four events containing mesoscale periodic solar wind structure during which the Iron and Magnesium number density data, measured by the Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer (SWICS) on board the Advanced Composition Explorer spacecraft, are validated at statistically significant count levels. We use a spectral analysis method specifically designed to extract periodic signals from astrophysical time series and apply it to the SWICS 12 minute native resolution data set. We find variations in the relative abundance of elements with low first ionization potential, mass dependencies, and charge state during time intervals in which mesoscale periodic structures are observed. These variations are linked to temporal or spatial variations in solar source regions and put constraints on the solar wind formation mechanisms that produce them. Techniques presented here are relevant for future, higher-resolution studies of data from new instruments such as Solar Orbiter’s Heavy Ion Sensor.

A small number of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) have been identified that contain measurable contributions from prominence plasma. In situ measurements from during these events are marked by the presence of unusually low-charge states of C, O, and Fe, representing ionization equilibrium formation temperatures of ∼104–105 K, consistent with prominence material observed at the Sun. We present a thorough analysis of the elemental abundances of a wide variety of heavy ions, measured by Advanced Composition Explorer/SWICS, in prominence material observed in the solar wind. We find that prominence material observed in situ tends to be more enriched in heavy ions than the surrounding ICME plasma and the fast and slow solar wind. We also find that the material is on average moderately enhanced in low first ionization potential elements compared to photospheric abundances, with values that lie between fast and slow solar wind. In rare instances, where in situ prominence material is observed to have clear, persistent, low-charge states over longer periods of time, it exhibits elemental abundances that are photospheric in nature. However, in most prominence events we see indications that the associated material contains a mixture of prominence and adjacent ICME plasma. The anomalous behavior of the elemental and ionic composition in ICMEs with and without prominence material can be used to study physical processes that occur during CME initiation and release.

Conclusively determining the states of the solar wind will aid in tracing the origins of those states to the Sun, and in the process help to find the wind’s origin and acceleration mechanism(s). Prior studies have characterized the various states of the wind, making lists that are only partially based on objective criteria; different approaches obtain substantially different results. To uncover the unbiased states of the solar wind, we use “k-means clustering”—an unsupervised machine learning method—including constructed multipoint variables. The method allows exploration of different descriptive state variables and numbers of fundamental states (clusters). We show that the clusters reveal structures similar to those found by more ad hoc means, including coronal hole wind, interplanetary coronal mass ejections, “slow wind” (better: noncoronal hole flow), “pseudostreamers,” and stream interaction regions, but with differences that should be useful in refining our previous ideas. These results demonstrate the viability of the approach and warrant further study to understand the origin of remaining discrepancies. Complexity in k-means characterization of the wind may ultimately point to complexity at the source; studies closer to the Sun with Parker Solar Probe will help. We confirm the utility of a set of variables that can serve as a proxy for composition measurements. This proxy permits studies at high time resolution and where composition is not available. This and our recently developed unsupervised multivariate clustering technique are expected to be beneficial in the automated identification of structures and events in a variety of studies.

We analyze the physical origin of plasmas that are ejected from the solar corona. To address this issue, we perform a comprehensive analysis of the elemental composition of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) using recently released elemental composition data for Fe, Mg, Si, S, C, N, Ne, and He as compared to O and H. We find that ICMEs exhibit a systematic abundance increase of elements with first ionization potential (FIP) < 10 eV, as well as a significant increase of Ne as compared to quasi-stationary solar wind. ICME plasmas have a stronger FIP effect than slow wind, which indicates either that an FIP process is active during the ICME ejection or that a different type of solar plasma is injected into ICMEs. The observed FIP fractionation is largest during times when the Fe ionic charge states are elevated above Q_(Fe) > 12.0. For ICMEs with elevated charge states, the FIP effect is enhanced by 70% over that of the slow wind. We argue that the compositionally hot parts of ICMEs are active region loops that do not normally have access to the heliosphere through the processes that give rise to solar wind. We also discuss the implications of this result for solar energetic particles accelerated during solar eruptions and for the origin of the slow wind itself.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are explosive events that escape the Sun's corona carrying solar material and energy into the heliosphere. The classic picture of a CME observed in the corona presents a "three-part structure," including a bright front at the leading edge indicating dense plasma, a low-density cavity, the possible signature of an embedded magnetic flux rope, and the so-called core, a high-density region observed to be associated with an erupting filament. Although there are experimental analogs to the first two parts of the CME when observed in situ, there are only a handful of in situ observations of cold, filament-type plasma. This has been a source of major uncertainty and qualitative disagreement between remote and in situ observations of these ejecta. We present the first comprehensive and long-term survey of such low charge states observed by the Advanced Composition Explorer Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer, using a novel data analysis process developed to identify ions with low ionic charge states. Using a very stringent set of observational signatures, we find that more than 4% of detected interplanetary CMEs have significant contributions of ions with low charge states. These time periods of low-charge ions often occur concurrent with some of the hottest ions, previously interpreted to be affected by flare heating during the CME initiation.

This work argues that there are two fundamental states of the non-transient solar wind, and that these can be distinguished by a number of criteria. Here we define the states, which will be termed slow and fast, or SSW and FSW, for lack of better terms, by the level of velocity fluctuations, v, in them, with the slow wind having systematically lower fluctuations than the fast wind. Almost all winds with speeds less than 450 km s1 are in the slow class, and winds with speeds greater than 600 km s1 are fast, but we argue that in between, consistent with other work, the v classification is more fundamental than speed. We show that the fluctuation categorization coincides well with classes based on AlfvA©nicy, proton specific entropy, ion thermal speed, and ionic composition. This correlated behavior among these solar wind parameters exists regardless of it being associated with a heliospheric current sheet or a pseudostreamer. This work provides evidence that both the so-called SSW I and SSW II scenarios coexist for the SSW formation. In addition, that the dynamical properties (thermal, magnetic, and turbulence properties) correlate well with properties set at the inner corona (ion ionization states and FIP bias)implies that there exists a boundary layer on the Sun within which the SSW is formed. This boundary layer would set up the coronal conditions for the source and transport of the SSW.

A long XMM-Newton exposure is used to observe solar wind charge exchange (SWCX) emission from exospheric material in and outside Earth's magnetosheath. The light curve of the O VII (0.5-0.62 keV) band is compared with a model for the expected emission, and while the emission is faint and the light curve has considerable scatter, the correlation is significant to better than 99.9%. This result demonstrates the validity of the geocoronal SWCX emission model for predicting a contribution to astrophysical observations to a scale factor of order unity (1.5). In addition, an average value of the SWCX O VII emission from the magnetosheath over the observation of 2.6 ± 0.5 LU is derived. The results also demonstrate the potential utility of using X-ray observations to study global phenomena of the magnetosheath which currently are only investigated using in situ measurements.

The standard theory for the solar-heliospheric magnetic field is the so-called quasi-steady model in which the field is determined by the observed magnetic flux at the photosphere and the balance between magnetic and plasma forces in the corona. In this model, the solar magnetic flux that opens to the heliosphere can increase or decrease as the photospheric flux evolves. The most sophisticated implementation of the quasi-steady theory is the SAIC model, which solves the fully time-dependent 3D MHD equations for the corona and wind until a steady state is achieved. In order to test the quasi-steady theory, we compare the 3D MHD model with observations of the heliospheric flux using multipoint measurements from the VHM instrument on the Ulysses spacecraft from 1991 to 2005 and from magnetic field measurements from various spacecraft at L1 compiled into the OMNI data set from 1976 through 2005. We also compare the observations to the predictions of the potential-field source-surface model, an older and simpler implementation of the quasi-steady theory. During solar maximum, ICMEs significantly disturb the heliospheric magnetic field, making our comparisons difficult. We find that the MHD model compares well with the general trends of the observed heliospheric fluxes. Variations on short timescales, presumably due to local effects, are missed by the model, but the long-term evolution is well matched. The model disagrees with observations most when Ulysses is in slow wind or ICME-related flows. The model underestimates the flux at solar maximum; however, this is to be expected, given the large number of ICMEs in the heliosphere at this time. We discuss the possible sources of discrepancy between the observations and the quasi-steady models.

We describe a new modeling approach to develop a more quantitative understanding of the charge state distributions of the ions of various elements detected in situ during halo Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) events by the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) satellite. Using a model CME hydrodynamic evolution based on observations of CMEs propagating in the plane of the sky and on theoretical models, we integrate time dependent equations for the ionization balance of various elements to compare with ACE data. We find that plasma in the CME ``core'' typically requires further heating following filament eruption, with thermal energy input similar to the kinetic energy input. This extra heating is presumably the result of post eruptive reconnection. Plasma corresponding to the CME ``cavity'' is usually not further ionized, since whether heated or not, the low density gives freeze-in close the the Sun. The current analysis is limited by ambiguities in the underlying model CME evolution. Such methods are likely to reach their full potential when applied to data to be acquired by STEREO when at optimum separation. CME evolution observed with one spacecraft may be used to interpret CME charge states detected by the other.

Shock heating and particle acceleration processes are some of the most fundamental physical phenomena of plasma physics with countless applications in laboratory physics, space physics, and astrophysics. This study is motivated by previous observations of non-thermal heating of heavy ions in astrophysical shocks (Korreck et al. 2004). Here, we focus on shocks driven by Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections (ICMEs) which heat the solar wind and accelerate particles. This study focuses specifically on the heating of heavy ions caused by these shocks. Previous studies have focused only on the two dynamically dominant species, H+ and He2+ . This study utilizes thermal properties measured by the Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer (SWICS) aboard the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft to examine heavy ion heating. This instrument provides data for many heavy ions not previously available for detailed study, such as Oxygen (O6+, O7+), Carbon (C5+, C6+), and Iron (Fe10+). The ion heating is found to depend critically on the upstream plasma, Comment: accepted ApJ

The origin and acceleration of the solar wind are still debated. In this paper, we search for signatures of the source region and acceleration mechanism of the solar wind in the plasma properties measured in situ by the Advanced Composition Explorer spacecraft. Using the elemental abundances as a proxy for the source region and the differential velocity and ion temperature ratios as a proxy for the acceleration mechanism, we are able to identify signatures pointing toward possible source regions and acceleration mechanisms. We find that the fast solar wind in the ecliptic plane is the same as that observed from the polar regions and is consistent with wave acceleration and coronal-hole origin. We also find that the slow wind is composed of two components: one similar to the fast solar wind (with slower velocity) and the other likely originating from closed magnetic loops. Both components of the slow solar wind show signatures of wave acceleration. From these findings, we draw a scenario that envisions two types of wind, with different source regions and release mechanisms, but the same wave acceleration mechanism.

The interiors of comets contain some of the most pristine material in the solar system. Comet 73P/Schwassmann–Wachmann 3, discovered in 1930, is a Jupiter-family comet with a 5.34-year period. This comet split into 5 fragments in 1995 and disintegrated into nearly 70 major pieces in 2006. In 2006 May and June, recently ionized cometary particles originating from fragments including and surrounding some of these major objects were collected with the ACE/SWICS and Wind/STICS sensors. Due to a combination of the instrument characteristics and the close proximity of the fragments passing between those spacecraft and the Sun, unique measurements regarding the charge state composition and the elemental abundances of both cometary and heliospheric plasma were made during that time. The cometary material released from some of these fragments can be identified by the concentrations of water-group pickup ions having a mass-per-charge ratio of 16–18 amu e−1, indicating that while these fragments are small, they are still actively sublimating. We present an analysis of cometary composition, spatial distribution, and heliospheric interactions, with a focus on helium, C+/O+, and water-group ions.

In this work we investigate the effects of photoionization on the charge state composition of the solar wind. Using measured solar EUV and X-ray irradiance, the Michigan Ionization Code and a model for the fast and slow solar wind, we calculate the evolution of the charge state distribution of He, C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, and Fe with and without including photoionization for both types of wind. We find that the solar radiation has significant effects on the charge state distribution of C, N, and O, causing the ionization levels of these elements to be higher than without photoionization; differences are largest for oxygen. The ions commonly observed for elements heavier than O are much less affected, except in ICMEs where Fe ions more ionized than 16+ can also be affected by the solar radiation. We also show that the commonly used O7+/O6+ density ratio is the most sensitive to photoionization; this sensitivity also causes the value of this ratio to depend on the phase of the solar cycle. We show that the O7+/O6+ ratio needs to be used with caution for solar wind classification and coronal temperature estimates, and recommend the C6+/C4+ ratio for these purposes.

We use Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE)/Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer (SWICS) elemental composition data to compare the variations in solar wind (SW) fractionation as measured by SWICS during the last solar maximum (1999–2001), the solar minimum (2006–2009), and the period in which the Genesis spacecraft was collecting SW (late 2001—early 2004). We differentiate our analysis in terms of SW regimes (i.e., originating from interstream or coronal hole flows, or coronal mass ejecta). Abundances are normalized to the low-first ionization potential (low-FIP) ion magnesium to uncover correlations that are not apparent when normalizing to high-FIP ions. We find that relative to magnesium, the other low-FIP elements are measurably fractionated, but the degree of fractionation does not vary significantly over the solar cycle. For the high-FIP ions, variation in fractionation over the solar cycle is significant: greatest for Ne/Mg and C/Mg, less so for O/Mg, and the least for He/Mg. When abundance ratios are examined as a function of SW speed, we find a strong correlation, with the remarkable observation that the degree of fractionation follows a mass-dependent trend. We discuss the implications for correcting the Genesis sample return results to photospheric abundances.

The bimodal paradigm of solar wind describes a slow solar wind situated near the heliospheric current sheet while a fast wind overexpands from the poles to fill in the remainder of the heliosphere. In this paper, we challenge this paradigm and focus here on mid-latitude wind using three fast-latitude passes completed by the Ulysses spacecraft. Based on its composition and dynamic properties, we discuss how this wind differs from both the fast, polar coronal hole wind and the low latitude, streamer-associated slow solar wind. Using a detailed analysis of ionic and elemental abundances, as well as solar wind dynamic properties, we conclude that there is a third quasi-stationary solar wind state, called the boundary wind. This boundary wind is characterized by a charge-state distribution that is similar to slow wind, but with an elemental composition that is coronal hole like. Based on these data, we present arguments for the location of the origin of this wind. We conclude that the boundary wind is a subset of the fast wind emanating from regions close to the boundaries of coronal holes and is accelerated by a similar process.

The elemental abundances of heavy ions (masses larger than He) in the solar wind provide information about physical processes occurring in the corona. Additionally, the charge state distributions of these heavy ions are sensitive to the temperature profiles of their respective source regions in the corona. Heavy ion dropouts are a relatively new class of solar wind events identified by both elemental and ionic charge state distributions. We have shown that their origins lie in large, closed coronal loops where processes such as gravitational settling dominate and can cause a mass-dependent fractionation pattern. In this study we consider and attempt to answer three fundamental questions concerning heavy ion dropouts: (1) where are the source loops located in the large-scale corona?; (2) how does the interplay between coronal processes influence the end elemental abundances?; and (3) what are the most probable release mechanisms? We begin by analyzing the temporal and spatial variability of heavy ion dropouts and their correlation with heliospheric plasma and magnetic structures. Next we investigate the ordering of the elements inside dropouts with respect to mass, ionic charge state, and first ionization potential. Finally, we discuss these results in the context of the prevailing solar wind theories and the processes they posit that may be responsible for the release of coronal plasma into interplanetary space.

Suprathermal particles are an important seed population for a variety of energetic particles found throughout the heliosphere, but their origin is in debate. We present, for the first time, high-cadence observations of suprathermal heavy ions during interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), from the Suprathermal Ion Composition Spectrometer on board the Wind spacecraft, and investigate their ionic composition and compare it to the bulk solar wind plasma composition, observed from the Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer on board the Advanced Composition Explorer. We find that the composition of the suprathermal plasma is related to the local bulk solar wind plasma and not to the plasma upstream of the ICME. This implies that the suprathermal plasma is accelerated from the local bulk solar wind plasma and not the upstream solar wind plasma.

The solar wind can be categorized into three types based on its 'freeze-in' temperature (T {sub freeze-in}) in the coronal source: low T {sub freeze-in} wind mostly from coronal holes, high T {sub freeze-in} wind mostly from regions outside of coronal holes, including streamers (helmet streamer and pseudostreamer), active regions, etc., and transient interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) usually possessing the hottest T {sub freeze-in}. The global distribution of these three types of wind has been investigated by examining the most effective T {sub freeze-in} indicator, the O{sup 7+}/O{sup 6+} ratio, as measured by the Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer on board the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) during 1998-2008 by Zhao et al. In this study, we extend the previous investigation to 2011 June, covering the unusual solar minimum between solar cycles 23 and 24 (2007-2010) and the beginning of solar cycle 24. We find that during the entire solar cycle, from the ascending phase of cycle 23 in 1998 to the ascending phase of cycle 24 in 2011, the average fractions of the low O{sup 7+}/O{sup 6+} ratio (LOR) wind, the high O{sup 7+}/O{sup 6+} ratio (HOR) wind, and ICMEs at 1 AU are 50.3%, 39.4%, and 10.3%, respectively;more » the contributions of the three types of wind evolve with time in very different ways. In addition, we compare the evolution of the HOR wind with two heliospheric current sheet (HCS) parameters, which indicate the latitudinal standard deviation (SD) and the slope (SL) of the HCS on the synoptic Carrington maps at 2.5 solar radii surface. We find that the fraction of HOR wind correlates with SD and SL very well (slightly better with SL than with SD), especially after 2005. This result verifies the link between the production of HOR wind and the morphology of the HCS, implying that at least one of the major sources of the HOR wind must be associated with the HCS.« less

Using in situ ion spectrometry data from ACE/SWICS, we determine the solar wind Ne/O elemental abundance ratio and examine its dependence on wind speed and evolution with the solar cycle. We find that Ne/O is inversely correlated with wind speed, is nearly constant in the fast wind, and correlates strongly with solar activity in the slow wind. In fast wind streams with speeds above 600 km s −1 , we find Ne/O = 0.10 ± 0.02, in good agreement with the extensive polar observations by Ulysses/SWICS. In slow wind streams with speeds below 400 km s −1 , Ne/O ranges from a low of 0.12 ± 0.02 at solar maximum to a high of 0.17 ± 0.03 at solar minimum. These measurements place new and significant empirical constraints on the fractionation mechanisms governing solar wind composition and have implications for the coronal and photospheric abundances of neon and oxygen. The results are made possible by a new data analysis method that robustly identifies rare elements in the measured ion spectra. The method is also applied to Ulysses/SWICS data, which confirms the ACE observations and extends our view of solar wind neon into the three-dimensional heliosphere.

We analyzed 27 solar wind (SW) intervals during the declining phase of cycle 23, whose source coronal holes (CHs) can be unambiguously identified and are associated with one of the polar CHs. We found that the SW ions have a temporal trend of decreasing ionization state, and such a trend is different between the slow and fast SW. The photospheric magnetic field, both inside and at the outside boundary of the CH, also exhibits a trend of decrease with time. However, EUV line emissions from different layers of the atmosphere exhibit different temporal trends. The coronal emission inside the CH generally increases toward the CH boundary as the underlying field increases in strength and becomes less unipolar. In contrast, this relationship is not seen in the coronal emission averaged over the entire CH. For C and O SW ions that freeze-in at lower altitude, stronger correlation between their ionization states and field strength (both signed and unsigned) appears in the slow SW, while for Fe ions that freeze-in at higher altitude, stronger correlation appears in the fast SW. Such correlations are seen both inside the CH and at its boundary region. On the other hand, the coronal electron temperature correlates well with the SW ion composition only in the boundary region. Our analyses, although not able to determine the likely footpoint locations of the SW of different speeds, raise many outstanding questions for how the SW is heated and accelerated in response to the long-term evolution of the solar magnetic field.

This analysis offers evidence of characteristic scale sizes in solar wind charge state data measured in-situ for thirteen quiet-sun Carrington rotations in 2008. Using a previously established novel methodology, we analyze the wavelet power spectrum of the charge state ratio C$^{6+}$/C$^{4+}$ measured in-situ by ACE/SWICS for 2-hour and 12-minute cadence. We construct a statistical significance level in the wavelet power spectrum to quantify the interference effects arising from filling missing data in the time series (Edmondson et al. 2013), allowing extraction of significant power from the measured data to a resolution of 24 mins. We analyze each wavelet power spectra for transient coherency, and global periodicities resulting from the superposition of repeating coherent structures. From the significant wavelet power spectra, we find evidence for a general upper-limit on individual transient coherency of $\sim$10 days. We find evidence for a set of global periodicities between 4-5 hours and 35-45 days. We find evidence for the distribution of individual transient coherency scales consisting of two distinct populations. Below the $\sim$2 day time scale the distribution is reasonably approximated by an inverse power law, whereas for scales $\gtrsim$2 days, the distribution levels off showing discrete peaks at common coherency scales. In addition, by organizing the transient coherency scale distributions by wind type, we find these larger, common coherency scales are more prevalent and well-defined in coronal hole wind. Finally, we discuss the implications of our results for current theories of solar wind generation and describe future work for determining the relationship between the coherent structures in our ionic composition data and the structure of the coronal magnetic field., Comment: (39 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal)

Solar wind plasma and compositional properties reflect the physical properties of the corona and its evolution over time. Studies comparing the previous solar minimum with the most recent, unusual solar minimum indicate that significant environmental changes are occurring globally on the Sun. For example, the magnetic field decreased 30% between the last two solar minima, and the ionic charge states of O have been reported to change toward lower values in the fast wind. In this work, we systematically and comprehensively analyze the compositional changes of the solar wind during cycle 23 from 2000 to 2010 while the Sun moved from solar maximum to solar minimum. We find a systematic change of C, O, Si, and Fe ionic charge states toward lower ionization distributions. We also discuss long-term changes in elemental abundances and show that there is a ~50% decrease of heavy ion abundances (He, C, O, Si, and Fe) relative to H as the Sun went from solar maximum to solar minimum. During this time, the relative abundances in the slow wind remain organized by their first ionization potential. We discuss these results and their implications for models of the evolution of the solar atmosphere, and for the identification of the fast and slow wind themselves.

In the present work, we calculate the evolution of the charge state distribution within the fast solar wind. We use the temperature, density, and velocity profiles predicted by Cranmer et al. to calculate the ionization history of the most important heavy elements in the solar corona and solar wind: C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, and Fe. The evolution of each charge state is calculated from the source region in the lower chromosphere to the final freeze-in point. We show that the solar wind velocity causes the plasma to experience significant departures from equilibrium at very low heights, well inside the field of view (within 0.6 R sun from the solar limb) of nearly all the available remote-sensing instrumentation, significantly affecting observed spectral line intensities. We also study the evolution of charge state ratios with distance from the source region, and the temperature they indicate if ionization equilibrium is assumed. We find that virtually every charge state from every element freezes in at a different height, so that the definition of freeze-in height is ambiguous. We also find that calculated freeze-in temperatures indicated by charge state ratios from in situ measurements have little relation to the local coronal temperature of the wind source region, and stop evolving much earlier than their correspondent charge state ratio. We discuss the implication of our results on plasma diagnostics of coronal holes from spectroscopic measurements as well as on theoretical solar wind models relying on coronal temperatures.

Recent ACE/SWICS observations have revealed that ~5% of all in situ observed interplanetary coronal mass ejections include time periods with very low charge state ions found to be associated with prominence eruptions. It was also shown that these low charge state ions are often observed concurrently with very high charge state ions. But, the physical process leading to these mixed charge states is not known and could be caused by either the mixing of plasmas of different temperatures or by non-local freeze-in effects as discussed by Gruesbeck. We provide a detailed and multi-stage analysis that excludes this latter option. We therefore conclude that time periods of very low charge states are the heliospheric remnants of plasmas born in prominences. We further conclude that the contemporaneously observed low and very high charge states are an indication of mixing of plasmas of different temperatures along magnetic field lines, suggesting that silicon and iron are depleted over carbon and oxygen in the cold, prominence-associated plasma. This represents the first experimental determination of elemental composition of prominence-associated plasma.

The 2005 January 21 interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) observed by multiple spacecraft at L1 was also observed from January 21-February 4 at Ulysses (5.3 AU). Previous studies of this ICME have found evidence suggesting that the flanks of a magnetic cloud like structure associated with this ICME were observed at L1 while a more central cut through the associated magnetic cloud was observed at Ulysses. This event allows us to study spatial variation across the ICME and relate it to the eruption at the Sun. In order to examine the spatial dependence of the heating in this ICME, we present an analysis and comparison of the heavy ion composition observed during the passage of the ICME at L1 and at Ulysses. Using SWICS, we compare the heavy ion composition across the two different observation cuts through the ICME and compare it with predictions for heating during the eruption based on models of the time-dependent ionization balance throughout the event.

We present the first in situ observations of heavy ion dropouts within the slow solar wind, observed for select elements ranging from helium to iron. For iron, these dropouts manifest themselves as depletions of the Fe/H ratio by factors up to ~25. The events often exhibit mass-dependent fractionation and are contained in slow, unsteady wind found within a few days from known stream interfaces. We propose that such dropouts are evidence of gravitational settling within large coronal loops, which later undergo interchange reconnection and become source regions of slow, unsteady wind. Previously, spectroscopic studies by Raymond et al. in 1997 (and later Feldman et al. in 1999) have yielded strong evidence for gravitational settling within these loops. However, their expected in situ signature plasma with heavy elements fractionated by mass was not observed prior to this study. Using data from the SWICS instrument on board the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), we investigate the composition of the solar wind within these dropouts and explore long term trends over most of a solar cycle.

We study the effects of departures from equilibrium on the radiative losses of the accelerating fast, coronal hole-associated solar wind plasma. We calculate the evolution of the ionic charge states in the solar wind with the Michigan Ionization Code and use them to determine the radiative losses along the wind trajectory. We use the velocity, electron temperature, and electron density predicted by Cranmer et al. as a benchmark case even though our approach and conclusions are more broadly valid. We compare non-equilibrium radiative losses to values calculated assuming ionization equilibrium at the local temperature, and we find that differences are smaller than 20% in the corona but reach a factor of three in the upper chromosphere and transition region. Non-equilibrium radiative losses are systematically larger than the equilibrium values, so that non-equilibrium wind plasma radiates more efficiently in the transition region. Comparing the magnitude of the dominant energy terms in the Cranmer et al. model, we find that wind-induced departures from equilibrium are of the same magnitude as the differences between radiative losses and conduction in the energy equation. We investigate which ions are most responsible for such effects, finding that carbon and oxygen are the main source of departures from equilibrium. We conclude that non-equilibrium effects on the wind energy equation are significant and recommend that they are included in theoretical models of the solar wind, at least for carbon and oxygen.

We present the first analysis of the complete charge state distributions of heavy ions in interplanetary coronal mass ejections (CMEs), from singly charged to fully ionized. We develop a novel analysis technique that requires the combination and cross-calibration of two different data sets from the Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer on the Advanced Composition Explorer. The first contains ions of higher charge states, and includes an identification of their mass, mass-per-charge, and energy-per-charge. The second data set contains singly and low-charge ions, and identifies only their mass-per-charge and energy-per-charge. Focusing on C, O, and Fe, we find ionic charge states representative of temperatures from ≤60,000 K to over 5,000,000 K contained within interplanetary CMEs observed near 1 AU. We interpret these data in the context of near-Sun observations of filament material associated with CMEs. We find that singly charged ions are embedded within selected interplanetary CMEs, and we examine their densities and durations. These data thus provide the most unambiguous in situ diagnostic of solar prominence plasma in the heliosphere.

We develop a new diagnostic technique that utilizes, at the same time, two completely different types of observations—in situ determinations of solar wind charge states and high-resolution spectroscopy of the inner solar corona—in order to study the temperature, density, and velocity of the solar wind as a function of height in the inner corona below the plasma freeze-in point. This technique relies on the ability to calculate the evolution of the ion charge composition as the solar wind escapes the Sun given the wind temperature, density, and velocity profiles as a function of distance. The resulting charge state composition can be used to predict frozen-in charge states as well as spectral line intensities. The predicted spectra and ion charge compositions can be compared with observations carried out when spectrometers and in situ instruments are in quadrature configuration to quantitatively test a set of assumptions regarding density, temperature, and velocity profiles in the low corona. Such a comparison can be used in two ways. If the input profiles are predicted by a theoretical solar wind model, this technique allows the benchmarking of the model. Otherwise, an empirical determination of the velocity, temperature, and density profiles can be achieved below the plasma freeze-in point applying a trial-and-error procedure to initial, user-specified profiles. To demonstrate this methodology, we have applied this technique to a state-of-the-art coronal hole and equatorial streamer model.

The changing relationships between solar wind speed, helium abundance, and minor ion charge state are examined over solar cycle 23. Observations of the abundance of helium relative to hydrogen (A He ≡ 100 × n He/n H) by the Wind spacecraft are used to examine the dependence of A He on solar wind speed and solar activity between 1994 and 2010. This work updates an earlier study of A He from 1994 to 2004 to include the recent extreme solar minimum and broadly confirms our previous result that A He in slow wind is strongly correlated with sunspot number, reaching its lowest values in each solar minima. During the last minimum, as sunspot numbers reached their lowest levels in recent history, A He continued to decrease, falling to half the levels observed in slow wind during the previous minimum and, for the first time observed, decreasing even in the fastest solar wind. We have also extended our previous analysis by adding measurements of the mean carbon and oxygen charge states observed with the Advanced Composition Explorer spacecraft since 1998. We find that as solar activity decreased, the mean charge states of oxygen and carbon for solar wind of a given speed also fell, implying that the wind was formed in cooler regions in the corona during the recent solar minimum. The physical processes in the coronal responsible for establishing the mean charge state and speed of the solar wind have evolved with solar activity and time.

Oxygen charge states measured by in situ instrumentation have long been used as a powerful diagnostic of the solar corona and to discriminate between different solar wind regimes, both because they freeze in very close to the Sun, and because the oxygen element abundance is comparatively high, allowing for statistically relevant measures. Like oxygen, carbon is also rather abundant and freezes in very close to the Sun. Here, we show an analysis of carbon and oxygen ionic charge states. First, through auditory and Fourier analysis of in situ measurements of solar wind ion composition by ACE/SWICS we show that some carbon ion ratios are very sensitive to solar wind type, even more sensitive than the commonly used oxygen ion ratios. Then we study the evolution of the ionization states of carbon and oxygen by means of a freeze-in code, and find that carbon ions, commonly found in the solar wind, freeze in at comparable coronal distances, while oxygen ions evolve over a much larger range of coronal distances. Finally, we show that carbon and oxygen ion abundance ratios have similar sensitivity to the electron plasma temperature, but the carbon ratios are more robust against atomic physics uncertainties and a better indicator of the temperature of the solar wind source regions.

Recent in situ observations of the solar wind show that charge states (e.g., the O7 +/O6 + and C6 +/C5 + abundance ratios) and α-particle composition evolved through the extended, deep solar minimum between solar cycles 23 and 24 (i.e., from 2006 to 2009). Prior investigations have found that both particle flux and magnetic field strength gradually decreased over this period of time. In this study, we find that (for a given solar wind speed) the coronal electron temperature (as derived from O7 +/O6 + and C6 +/C5 + measurements from ACE) likewise decreased during this minimum. We use the Schwadron & McComas solar wind scaling law to show that cooler coronal electron temperatures are naturally associated with lower particle fluxes because downward heat conduction must be reduced to keep the average energy loss per particle fixed. The results of the scaling law should apply to all solar wind models and suggest that the evolution of the solar wind is linked to the solar dynamo, which caused the coronal magnetic field strength to decrease in the deep, extended minimum. We utilize the scaling law to project coronal electron temperatures backward in time throughout the space age and find that these temperatures have been decreasing in successive temperature maxima since 1987 but were increasing in successive temperature maxima from 1969 to 1987. Thus, we show how the solar wind scaling law relates solar wind properties observed at 1 AU back to coronal electron temperatures throughout the space age.

We present a novel procedure for deriving the physical properties of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the corona. Our methodology uses in situ measurements of ionic charge states of C, O, Si, and Fe in the heliosphere and interprets them in the context of a model for the early evolution of interplanetary CME (ICME) plasma, between 2 and 5 R� . We find that the data are best fit by an evolution that consists of an initial heating of the plasma, followed by an expansion that ultimately results in cooling. The heating profile is consistent with a compression of coronal plasma due to flare reconnection jets and an expansion cooling due to the ejection, as expected from the standard CME/flare model. The observed frozen-in ionic charge states reflect this time history and, therefore, provide important constraints for the heating and expansion timescales, as well as the maximum temperature the CME plasma is heated to during its eruption. Furthermore, our analysis places severe limits on the possible density of CME plasma in the corona. We discuss the implications of our results for CME models and for future analysis of ICME plasma composition.