Authors: Tyler Eddy (University of Michigan), Susan Lepri (University of Michigan), and Jim Raines (University of Michigan)

The frozen-in-flux and frozen-in-charge state theorems are important concepts for understanding the generation of solar wind plasma and its outward expansion into interplanetary space. The frozen-in-flux theorem provides the physical explanation for magnetic field structures fixed into plasma fluids that are observed to convect past spacecraft. The frozen-in-charge state theorem outlines the plasma conditions resulting in near-permanent heavy ion charge states measured by plasma composition instruments. Both theorems contain important clues for understanding how the solar wind plasma is heated and accelerated beyond the solar corona by “freezing in” key signatures at certain plasma state conversion boundaries. In this study we investigate the physical parameters that lead to both theorems and when they occur simultaneously thereby producing concurrent metrics measurable by in situ instruments onboard science missions, ultimately enabling them to determine the sources of the solar wind and its transients. Through this study we elucidate the relevant importance of magnetic topology and plasma composition measurements found together in well-known phenomena such as flux ropes, switchbacks, and the alfvenic slow solar wind.