Active region plasma outflows as sources of slow/intermediate solar wind

VAN DRIEL-GESZTELYI, L.; BAKER, D.; DÉMOULIN, P.; CULHANE, J.L.; DEROSA, M.L.; MANDRINI, C.H.; BROOKS, D.H.; FAZAKERLEY, A.N.; HARRA, L.K.; ZHAO, L.; ZURBUCHEN, T.H.; NUEVO, F.A.; VÁSQUEZ, A.M.; CRISTIANI, G.D.; PICK, M.

Congreso; IAU General Assembly; 2015

IAU

We study plasma upflows of tens of km s-1 from the edges of solar active regions discovered by Hinode and investigate whether or not they become outflows, i.e. find their way into the solar wind. We analyse two magnetic configurations: bipolar and quadrupolar and find that the active region plasma may be directly channeled into the solar wind via interchange reconnection at a  high-altitude null point above the active region especially when the active region is located  beside coronal holes or in a more complex way via multiple reconnections even from under a closed  helmet streamer. We relate the solar observations to in-situ slow/intermediate solar wind streams  and ask the question whether or not all active regions produce outflows into the solar wind. The  answer is that this may only happen under specific conditions, in a fraction of ARs. However, we  only sample the solar wind at ACE, while outflows at other heliolatitudes are also possible.