Slip-back Mapping as a Tracker of Topological Changes in Evolving Magnetic Configurations

Abstract

The topology of the coronal magnetic field has a strong impact on the properties of the solar corona and presumably on the origin of the slow solar wind. To advance our understanding of this impact, we revisit the concept of so-called slip-back mapping and adapt it to determine open, closed, and disconnected flux systems that are formed in the solar corona by magnetic reconnection during a given time interval. In particular, the method we developed allows us to describe magnetic flux transfer between open and closed flux regions via so-called interchange reconnection with an unprecedented level of detail. We illustrate the application of this method to the analysis of the global MHD evolution of the solar corona driven by idealized differential rotation of the photospheric plasma.