Magnetic reconnection sustains the mass budget of the solar wind

Abstract

The solar wind originates from open magnetic field regions on the Sun, but the processes relevant to its origin remain unsolved. We present a self-consistent numerical model of the source region of the wind, in which jets similar to those observed on the Sun naturally emerge due to magnetic reconnection between closed and open magnetic fields. In this process, material is transferred from closed to open field lines and fed into the solar wind. We quantified the mass flux through the magnetic field connected to the heliosphere and found that it greatly exceeds the amount required to sustain the wind. This supports a decades-old suspicion based on spectroscopic observations, indicating that magnetic reconnection in the low solar atmosphere could sustain the solar wind.