What is the width of a slow wind separatrix-web arc in the heliosphere?

Authors: A. K. Higginson (NASA GSFC), S. K. Antiochos (University of Michigan), C. R. DeVore (NASA GSFC)

Recent remote observations by SUVI, EIS, and WISPR have shown that small scale dynamics along streamers and separatrix-web (S-Web) structures are a crucial driver of the slow solar wind. Numerical calculations have shown that magnetic field dynamics at coronal hole boundaries in the middle corona, in particular interchange reconnection driven by photospheric motions, can be responsible for the dynamic release of structured slow solar wind along the S-Web streamer network. The dynamic width of these arcs is thought to be determined by the scale of the photospheric driving. Quantifying the amount of plasma released along these S-Web arcs is crucial to furthering our understanding of solar wind formation. Here we present fully dynamic, 3D numerical calculations of an infinitesimal width coronal hole corridor driven by supergranular scale photospheric drivers. We quantify the width of the slow wind region in the S-Web arcs both before and after driving, and relate it to the scale size of the driver in the photosphere. We consider our simulation results within the context of Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter, and make predictions for the structure and variability of the young slow solar wind.