Connecting Solar Orbiter remote-sensing observations and Parker Solar Probe in situ measurements with a numerical MHD reconstruction of the Parker spiral

¹ University of Palermo, Physics and Chemistry Department, Piazza del Parlamento 1, 90134 Palermo, Italy
e-mail: ruggero.biondo@unipa.it
² INAF-Turin Astrophysical Observatory, Via Osservatorio 20, 10025 Pino Torinese (TO), Italy
³ INAF-Palermo Astronomical Observatory, Piazza del Parlamento 1, 90134 Palermo, Italy
⁴ University of Firenze, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Via Giovanni Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
⁵ INAF-Capodimonte Observatory, Salita Moiariello 16, 80131 Napoli, Italy
⁶ CNR-Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies, Via Trasea 7, 35131 Padova, Italy, Italy
⁷ Czech Academy of Sciences, Astronomical Institute, Fričova 298, 25165 Ondrejov, Czech Republic
⁸ NASA Headquarters, 300 E St SW, Washington, DC 20546, USA
⁹ University of Padova, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Via Francesco Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
¹⁰ INAF-Catania Astrophysical Observatory, Via S. Sofia 78, 95123 Catania, Italy
¹¹ University of Catania, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Via Santa Sofia 64, 95123 Catania, Italy
¹² Italian Space Agency, Via del Politecnico snc, 00133 Roma, Italy
¹³ Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
¹⁴ INAF-Trieste Astronomical Observatory, Località Basovizza 302, 34149 Trieste, Italy
¹⁵ INAF-Institute of Space Astrophysics and Cosmic Physics of Milan, Via Alfonso Corti 12, 20133 Milano, Italy

Received: 18 July 2022
Accepted: 16 September 2022

Abstract

As a key feature, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe (PSP) and ESA-NASA’s Solar Orbiter (SO) missions cooperate to trace solar wind and transients from their sources on the Sun to the inner interplanetary space. The goal of this work is to accurately reconstruct the interplanetary Parker spiral and the connection between coronal features observed remotely by the Metis coronagraph on-board SO and those detected in situ by PSP at the time of the first PSP-SO quadrature of January 2021. We use the Reverse in situ and MHD Approach (RIMAP), a hybrid analytical-numerical method performing data-driven reconstructions of the Parker spiral. RIMAP solves the MHD equations on the equatorial plane with the PLUTO code, using the measurements collected by PSP between 0.1 and 0.2 AU as boundary conditions. Our reconstruction connects density and wind speed measurements provided by Metis (3–6 solar radii) to those acquired by PSP (21.5 solar radii) along a single streamline. The capability of our MHD model to connect the inner corona observed by Metis and the super Alfvénic wind measured by PSP, not only confirms the research pathways provided by multi-spacecraft observations, but also the validity and accuracy of RIMAP reconstructions as a possible test bench to verify models of transient phenomena propagating across the heliosphere, such as coronal mass ejections, solar energetic particles and solar wind switchbacks.