LARGE VELOCITY DISCONTINUITIES IN SOLAR WIND

In the course of 3000 hours observation of the interplanetary plasma, the plasma and magnetic-field experiments on Explorer 34 have detected 11 discontinuous solar-wind speed changes, not associated with shocks, of more than 60 km/sec in less than 3 min. These events, called uD's, may show a velocity change of either sign, but the plasma density and temperature are not found to change appreciably across them. Each speed discontinuity occurs simultaneously with a directional discontinuity in the magnetic field. High-resolution magnetic-field data show that sometimes the directional changes occur as rotational fans, and at other times they are erratic or occur within the time resolution of the magnetic-field experiment, 2.6 sec. The flow direction of the solar wind changed at 2 of the 11 uD's. The quiet nature of the field and plasma on each side of these events gives the impression that they are stable. The existence of these uD's is shown to be consistent with the theory of the Helmholtz instability. In particular, the additional observation that the magnetic-field direction change, ω, at a uD tends to be near 90° is consistent with the theory, for uD's with small ω may become unstable as they move from the sun. © 1969 D. Reidel Publishing Company.