The origin of the slow solar wind in coronal streamers

Abstract

The highly variable slow solar wind has been associated with low-latitude regions of the heliosphere most clearly by the Ulysses spacecraft. Although, it is evident today that the slow solar wind originates in coronal helmet streamers, the mechanism of the slow solar wind acceleration, and the origin of the variability are still being debated. The combination of new observations and numerical modeling are beginning to address these questions. I will discuss how recent in-situ observations by Ulysses, white light and EUV observations by the LASCO and UVCS instruments on SOHO advanced our understanding of the streamer structure, dynamics, and stability. I will briefly review the current state of numerical MHD modeling of streamers, and the possible mechanisms that may produce the highly variable slow wind. I will present the results of recent heat-conductive MHD modeling of multiple streamer slow solar wind with heating function constrained by observations. I will show how multi-fluid numerical modeling of the slow solar wind in streamers helps to identify the regions of the slow solar wind outflow.