@article{Laker:2021:0004-6361/202039354,
author = {Laker, R and Horbury, TS and Bale, SD and Matteini, L and Woolley, T and Woodham, LD and Badman, ST and Pulupa, M and Kasper, JC and Stevens, M and Case, AW and Korreck, KE},
doi = {0004-6361/202039354},
journal = {Astronomy & Astrophysics},
pages = {1--7},
title = {Statistical analysis of orientation, shape, and size of solar wind switchbacks},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202039354},
volume = {650},
year = {2021}
}

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TY  - JOUR
AB  - One of the main discoveries from the first two orbits of Parker Solar Probe(PSP) was the presence of magnetic switchbacks, whose deflections dominated themagnetic field measurements. Determining their shape and size could provideevidence of their origin, which is still unclear. Previous work with a singlesolar wind stream has indicated that these are long, thin structures althoughthe direction of their major axis could not be determined. We investigate ifthis long, thin nature extends to other solar wind streams, while determiningthe direction along which the switchbacks within a stream were aligned. We tryto understand how the size and orientation of the switchbacks, along with theflow velocity and spacecraft trajectory, combine to produce the observedstructure durations for past and future orbits. We searched for the alignmentdirection that produced a combination of a spacecraft cutting direction andswitchback duration that was most consistent with long, thin structures. Theexpected form of a long, thin structure was fitted to the results of the bestalignment direction, which determined the width and aspect ratio of theswitchbacks for that stream. The switchbacks had a mean width of $50,000 \,\rm{km}$, with an aspect ratio of the order of $10$. We find that switchbacksare not aligned along the background flow direction, but instead aligned alongthe local Parker spiral, perhaps suggesting that they propagate along themagnetic field. Since the observed switchback duration depends on how thespacecraft cuts through the structure, the duration alone cannot be used todetermine the size or influence of an individual event. For future PSP orbits,a larger spacecraft transverse component combined with more radially alignedswitchbacks will lead to long duration switchbacks becoming less common.
AU  - Laker,R
AU  - Horbury,TS
AU  - Bale,SD
AU  - Matteini,L
AU  - Woolley,T
AU  - Woodham,LD
AU  - Badman,ST
AU  - Pulupa,M
AU  - Kasper,JC
AU  - Stevens,M
AU  - Case,AW
AU  - Korreck,KE
DO  - 0004-6361/202039354
EP  - 7
PY  - 2021///
SN  - 0004-6361
SP  - 1
TI  - Statistical analysis of orientation, shape, and size of solar wind switchbacks
T2  - Astronomy & Astrophysics
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202039354
UR  - https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2021/06/aa39354-20/aa39354-20.html
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/83716
VL  - 650
ER  - 

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