Evolution of Open Magnetic Flux and Heliospheric Current Sheet-Associated Streamer Wind Across Multiple Solar Cycles
Jackson R MacTaggart, Liang Zhao, Susan T Lepri, Lennard A Fisk, Aidan J Nakhleh · 2026
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Description
Jackson MacTaggart and co-authors published this solar physics study in 2026. The Sun's open magnetic flux, the field lines escaping into space, was expected to hold steady from one solar minimum to the next. Spacecraft readings during the phases of cycles twenty-three and twenty-four broke that expectation: the flux had dropped, alongside changes in the solar wind. Work rescued a baseline idea by counting flux outside the streamer belt, the band around the Sun's equator.
This study extends the check across five minima, from cycle twenty-one to twenty-five. Spacecraft supplied field, wind, and heavy-ion data. The team measured the streamer belt's width in the cycle twenty-five minimum, and re-measured cycle twenty-two with an entropy-based method. Both cases supported the revised conservation claim. The authors present the result as validation that open flux outside the belt is a baseline.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Jackson R MacTaggart, Liang Zhao, Susan T Lepri, Lennard A Fisk, Aidan J Nakhleh |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 45 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |