Coronal Heating Rate in the Slow Solar Wind

This Letter reports the first observational estimate of the heating rate in the slowly expanding solar corona. The analysis exploits the simultaneous remote and local observations of the same coronal plasma volume, with the Solar Orbiter/Metis and the Parker Solar Probe instruments, respectively, and relies on the basic solar wind magnetohydrodynamic equations. As expected, energy losses are a minor fraction of the solar wind energy flux, since most of the energy dissipation that feeds the heating and acceleration of the coronal flow occurs much closer to the Sun than the heights probed in the present study, which range from 6.3 to 13.3 R & ODOT;. The energy deposited to the supersonic wind is then used to explain the observed slight residual wind acceleration and to maintain the plasma in a nonadiabatic state. As derived in the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin limit, the present energy transfer rate estimates provide a lower limit, which can be very useful in refining the turbulence-based modeling of coronal heating and subsequent solar wind acceleration

Modification of silicophosphate glass composition, structure, and properties via crucible material and melting conditions

Abstract Ceramic crucibles are known to corrode in contact with glass melts. Here, we investigate the effect of alumina and fused silica crucibles on the composition, structure, and properties of silicophosphate glasses. Glasses in the system 0.3 Na2O‐0.6 P2O5‐0.1 SiO2 were melted in platinum, alumina, or fused silica crucibles at 900°C or 1200°C for 0.5‐12 hours. Al2O3 and SiO2 were found to leach from the crucibles into the glass melt and alter the glass composition: Al2O3 content increased with melting temperature and time, resulting in up to 10 mol% Al2O3; SiO2 from fused silica crucibles was also introduced into the glass, resulting in a 25% higher SiO2 content compared to the nominal composition. Glass density, transition temperature, thermal expansion, and mechanical properties were strongly affected by these compositional changes. Based on vibrational spectroscopy, this is explained by increasing numbers of P–O–Al or P–O–Si bonds, resulting in a depolymerization of the phosphate network, and ionic cross‐linking by high field strength aluminum or silicon ions. With increasing alumina content, P–O–Si bonds were replaced by P–O–Al bonds. 31P and 27Al MAS NMR spectra revealed that aluminum is present in sixfold coordination exclusively and fully bonded to phosphate species, connecting phosphate groups by P–O–Al–O–P bonds

Phosphate structure and lithium environments in lithium phosphorus oxynitride amorphous thin films

Lithium ion-conducting glasses attract wide interest for electrochemical applications like efficient energy storage devices. This work presents a structural study on involved bonding units, based on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy, of lithium phosphorus oxide and oxynitride amorphous thin films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering. A thorough consideration of the mid- and far-infrared spectral regions demonstrated structural changes at the phosphate units and the lithium ion environments triggered by nitrogen incorporation and post-deposition thermal treatment. It was found that films prepared by sputtering in pure nitrogen atmosphere have about 75 % of their nitrogen atoms in sites doubly coordinated with phosphorus (P–N=P), and the rest in triply coordinated sites. It was shown also that nitrogen incorporation favors the stability of lithium ions, while annealing enhances ionic conductivity of the oxynitride films

Linking Small-scale Solar Wind Properties with Large-scale Coronal Source Regions through Joint Parker Solar Probe-Metis/Solar Orbiter Observations

The solar wind measured in situ by Parker Solar Probe in the very inner heliosphere is studied in combination with the remote-sensing observation of the coronal source region provided by the METIS coronagraph aboard Solar Orbiter. The coronal outflows observed near the ecliptic by Metis on 2021 January 17 at 16:30 UT, between 3.5 and 6.3 R (circle dot) above the eastern solar limb, can be associated with the streams sampled by PSP at 0.11 and 0.26 au from the Sun, in two time intervals almost 5 days apart. The two plasma flows come from two distinct source regions, characterized by different magnetic field polarity and intensity at the coronal base. It follows that both the global and local properties of the two streams are different. Specifically, the solar wind emanating from the stronger magnetic field region has a lower bulk flux density, as expected, and is in a state of well-developed Alfvenic turbulence, with low intermittency. This is interpreted in terms of slab turbulence in the context of nearly incompressible magnetohydrodynamics. Conversely, the highly intermittent and poorly developed turbulent behavior of the solar wind from the weaker magnetic field region is presumably due to large magnetic deflections most likely attributed to the presence of switchbacks of interchange reconnection origin