Preliminary Results of Switchback Analysis in Parker Solar Probe Observations near the Sun

Localized deflections in the interplanetary magnetic field, often accompanied by enhancements in solar wind velocity and disrupt the idealized Parker spiral topology that is otherwise dictated by the speed of the solar wind plasma flow. Such events, historically referred to by terms such as jets, velocity spikes, or the most recent adopted name magnetic switchbacks, were first observed in 1995 with Ulysses at 2.4 au. The reanalysis of Helios (1976) in 2018 confirmed their presence at smaller heliospheric distances (0.3 au). Their infrequent occurrence at these distances initially led to the belief that they are rare. This perspective changed dramatically with Parker Solar Probe’s (PSP) approach to 0.16 au in 2018, shortly after its launch, revealing an abundance of these deflections within smaller heliodistances. This sparked a significant interest within the scientific community to investigate their properties, possible sources, and significant processes inside the solar corona. However, this new interest also brought forth challenges, as their properties, origin, and behaviour across different radial distances remain unclear, and the lack of a unified definition leaves the subject open to interpretation. For our analysis, after careful consideration of the different properties of switchbacks, literature review, and comparisons between different studies we have constructed a set of criteria based on which we collected a small catalogue of switchbacks. The data considered are from different PSP encounters spanning the minimum, ascending phase, and maximum of the current solar cycle. We present our preliminary analysis, focusing on characteristics such as the direction of the magnetic field vector, and its magnitude, the plasma speed, density, and temperature, and the strahl electron pitch angle distribution.