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The solar wind can, to a good approximation be described as a two-component flow with fast, tenuous, quiescent flow emanating from coronal holes, and slow, dense and variable flow associated with the boundary between open and closed magnetic fields. In spite of its simplicity, this picture naturally produces a range of complex heliospheric phenomena, including the presence, location, and orientation of corotating interaction regions and their associated shocks. In this study, we apply a two-step mapping technique, incorporating a magnetohydrodynamic model of the solar corona, to bring in situ observations from Ulysses, WIND, and ACE back to the solar surface in an effort to determine some intrinsic properties of the quasi-steady solar wind. In particular, we find that a “layer” of ∼35,000 km exists between the Coronal Hole Boundary (CHB) and the fast solar wind, where the wind is slow and variable. We also derive a velocity gradient within large polar coronal holes (that were present during Ulysses’ rapid latitude scan) as a function of distance from the CHB. We find that v = 713 km/s + 3.2 d, where d is the angular distance from the CHB boundary in degrees. © 2003 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A variety of heliospheric ion populations — from Anomalous Cosmic Rays (ACRs) to particles accelerated in Corotating Interaction Regions (CIRs) — have been observed and studied for several decades. It had been commonly assumed that the solar wind was the source for all of these populations, except for the ACRs, and that shock acceleration produced the energetic particles observed, including the ACRs. For the ACRs the source that had been proposed a long time ago was the interstellar gas that penetrates deep into the heliosphere. Recent measurements of the composition and spectra of suprathermal ions, primarily from Ulysses, ACE and Wind, indicate that pickup ions are likely to be an important source not only of the ACRs but for other heliospheric ion populations as well. In particular, the newly discovered "Inner Source" pickup ions may be a significant source for particles accelerated in the inner heliosphere and may also be the seed material for ACR C, Mg, Si and Fe. Furthermore, the omnipresent suprathermal tails seem to tell us that shock acceleration may not be the primary mechanism energizing particles to ∼0.1 MeV in the heliosphere. Explaining the origin of these persistent high velocity tails remains one of our challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy ions in the solar wind are ideal for studying injection processes in the solar wind. We use composition data from Ulysses, ACE, and Wind to examine the properties of heavy ions from thermal energies to several 100 keVs. We show that these particles are observed to gain energy without any association with shocks. This paper provides a survey of recent observations of non-thermal properties of solar wind heavy ions which are consistent with the following picture: At thermal energies coherent wave-particle interactions preferentially heat and accelerate heavy ions with collisional processes limiting subsequent non-thermal properties. At higher energies heavy ion distribution functions are characterized by ubiquitous suprathermal tails. We argue that solar wind heavy ions are a good tracer for acceleration processes which are not directly associated with shocks. These stochastic processes are observed to be relevant for predisposing ions for shock acceleration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]